Mended Illusions
by Demain Matin
Summary: 2 of 2 : Yaoi lemon mpreg : InuxKou SessxOC : It’s been a while since the whole incident, but what will Inuyasha do to change everything drastically? : Sequel to The Love of a Mother :
1. I'll remember

Chapter 1 – I'll remember

Two months, almost three, had passed since the whole accident with Inuyasha and things were pretty much normal in the gang's eyes. Autumn was gaining on the terrain and the temperature was getting lower with the days; in two months or so, snow would show itself slowly, but surely. Since Chikara and Sesshoumaru's relationship had taken a better turn, she was now living most of her time at the castle; she would visit her friends from time to time.

Although Kagome had felt that Inuyasha had changed somehow, she never mentioned it. Actually, the half-demon had evolved during those months and he was happy with this changing. Although unknown to Kagome, Sango and Shippo, Inuyasha had met with Koga during the nights. Miroku knew about all those meetings, but didn't tell it to the others; he knew Inuyasha wanted to keep it a secret. At first, they were simply sitting by each other, but with time, they grew out curious to feel a kiss again, since their first one. They could feel something special between them, but they couldn't put a name on their relationship, because they didn't love each other, and still, Koga liked to tease Inuyasha a lot. The dog demon was a bit bugged at the wolf's behaviour sometimes.

The gang was now searching, as usual, for Shikon shards. They were walking toward a small village. Kagome didn't want to spend the night outside so she approached Miroku while walking: "Huh, Miroku?"

The monk turned his head toward her, still walking: "Yes, Kagome?"

She gave him a shy smile: "Do you think you could… huh do your 'dark aura' thing? You know the one you do when we want to sleep inside?"

Miroku smiled at that and with a light chuckle, he said: "Sure, why not? I guess we all need a good bath."

Inuyasha cut in: "Wait! Doesn't this mean taking advantage of innocent people Kagome?" He snickered, knowing she'd be confused about what to answer.

Kagome blinked and looked at Inuyasha: "Can't I think for myself and have a nice hot bath for a change?" She gave him puppy eyes, knowing he wouldn't protest, not being able to resist that kind of 'attack'.

The half-demon sighed and brought a hand up in sign of defeat: "Okay… but just for tonight."

Kagome jumped around, picturing a nice bed and good food in her mind and yelled: "Yay!"

Inuyasha slightly smiled, amused.

Miroku added: "Also, it will be less stressful to have a roof over us because… tonight is the new moon."

The dog demon didn't answer, although his ears twitched, but everyone knew he understood what the monk meant.

During the night, everyone was sleeping peacefully in the leader of the village's house, except for a certain half-demon; Inuyasha woke up from a nightmare. He dreamt about a demon attacking them in the middle of the night. It looked so real that it gave him the chills.

The half-demon – now human - shook his head, trying to chase the images, but they were still there. He sighed; he'd better get up to take a walk because otherwise, he wouldn't get any sleep tonight. Anyway, if demons would attack them while he's in his human form, it would be better if he'd stayed far from his friends, so at least they can stay safe.

So he walked out the house and wandered in a small forest nearby for about half an hour when he spotted an old tree that its roots were sticking out of the ground.

He sat between the roots and closed his eyes to meditate. He steadied his breath. He started to think: '_How long again until we find all the Shikon shards and finally destroy Naraku_?' He was tired of fighting and wanted all to end.

He was swooped out of his thoughts when suddenly a voice came out of no where: "Hey Inuyasha, what's wrong mutt? Didn't you hear me coming?"

Inuyasha tried to search for the source of the voice in the dark; he couldn't sense where it was coming from.

"Oops, sorry I forgot; it's the new moon tonight…" Koga smirked at his last words; he just loved teasing Inuyasha. He came for his daily visit, just like he had been doing for the last months.

The human's face changed from confused to irritated: "Shut up Koga! Go away I don't wanna see you right now!" Inuyasha growled, scooting away from the standing wolf demon.

Koga raised an eyebrow: "Thanks for the nice greeting. Are you trying to scare me dog breath?"

"Would you stop with those insults? Just go away, I would like to be alone…" Inuyasha said, covering his eyes with his bangs.

Koga was surprised at the change of mood, but also felt the sadness in Inuyasha's voice and he intended to see why he was down. His smirk faded and he took a serious tone: "What's with the long face Inuyasha? Usually, you react differently at my insults. It normally doesn't bother you and all… I thought you liked it when I called you mutt."

Inuyasha snorted and looked away: "Normally it doesn't bother me, but right now…" He felt reluctant to talk about his feelings to Koga; he didn't know of he could trust him. Even though they had been seeing each other in secret, Inuyasha still had a bit of problems to share his feelings with the demon.

"Now what? Why is it different?" Koga really intended to find out what was ticking off the human. He crouched to be at Inuyasha's eye level and then sat beside him, snuggling to keep the human warm because of the cool autumn air.

The human sighed; he leaned his head on Koga's shoulder. A minute passed before he answered: "I feel helpless…and lonely. The way you just treated me isn't helping…" Inuyasha let slip out a single tear down his cheek. He chuckled: "Feh. I'm such a weakling; can't even control my emotions. I just can't help it, I love being human" he said sarcastically, drying his face with his sleeve.

Koga frowned at what he just heard. 'Why is he acting like this? Can't he act normal for once?' he thought.

He took a deep breath; gently taking off Inuyasha's head on his shoulder, he faced the dog demon: "Inuyasha, listen to me: you are not a weakling. Tonight you are human, but you'll turn back to your hold self in the morning." Koga put a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder, showing him he cared and with his other hand, forced Inuyasha to look up at him in the eyes.

The human played with a strand of his hair in his hand: "But I hate new moons. Why do I have to be a half-demon, instead of fully human or fully demon?" he said, his voice starting to shake a bit.

Still keeping eye contact with the half-demon, Koga said with his nicest tone: "Well that is your destiny. You don't choose who you fall in love with Inuyasha. Your parents knew that very well since your mother was human and your father a demon."

"Yeah right. Thanks for reminding it to me," Inuyasha said sarcastically, chasing the wolf's hand on his chin, which held him prisoner from Koga's intense gaze.

Koga frowned: "You know what? I like you like you are: a half-demon, and a human at new moon. You know why?" he asked, trying to convince the human.

"No…" Inuyasha was barely listening to Koga as he was too caught in his own thoughts.

"I like you because you stay yourself no matter what, and you're always sincere; unlike most demons around… Inuyasha are you listening?" Koga said, tilting his head on the side.

"Huh? Yeah, whatever." But in fact, he wasn't really paying attention.

Koga looked aside, trying to hide his emotions: "Listen, Inuyasha… Might get it out for good, because it's been on my mind for a while" he took another deep breath. "I think I have some strong feelings for you. Look, since that time when I saw you in the woods months ago, I…well" he paused, all sorts of feelings rushing into him, "Inuyasha, I think I… love you."

That caught Inuyasha by surprise as Koga approached him to be nose to nose. Koga waited for something to happen. Seeing nothing was going to take place, he leaned in to kiss the dog demon and the said person calmed down as the amazing sensation of Koga's lips was soothing him. So he kissed back and let go of his emotions. They separated when the air was running out, but Koga embraced Inuyasha to put his chin on top of the half-demon's head, then he told him in his human ear: "So, do you love me?"

Inuyasha got out of the embrace and looked in the wolf's eyes, stunned and uncertain. "Koga, why would you love me? I thought you loved Kagome" he blurted out. He didn't understand why Koga had said that.

"Maybe," the wolf smiled, "but I don't seem to have the same love for her as I do for you."

"Yeah, that's called lust, Koga" Inuyasha scoffed.

"Don't the kisses awake something in you? You always kissed me back after all…" the wolf said, as he blushed. "Ever since the small number of days we traveled to get back to the village a while back, some feelings took place in my… heart. At first, I stayed with you because I knew that if Kagome would have learned that I had left you alone weak like you were, she would have killed me." Koga laughed at that thought and continued: "But after a while, I kinda liked it to be there with you, to protect you and Takato. He blushed deeper: "You'll say that's silly, but it felt right, as if we were… a family. I mean it Inuyasha when I say that I like you a lot." He paused, thinking about what to say next. "Look, why do you think I came to visit you almost every night for a while? Simply because I feel good with you."

Koga chuckled and leaned on the hanyou. He then snuggled closer, his arms around the dog. The wolf sniffed inside Inuyasha's neck; the smell was intoxicating, giving him a feeling of happiness. He backed a bit to look into Inuyasha's eyes.

He smirked and then sat on Inuyasha's thighs and started to lick Inuyasha's neck. He looked up at the dog demon: "I think we could go farther than a few kisses tonight; I give you my body. Do whatever you want with it, 'kay?"

Inuyasha's eyed widened. "What? Are you…sure? I mean, you're so sudden and all…" The look in Koga's eyes was saying everything. Inuyasha sighed. "I've never done this before, how could I?"

Inuyasha was showing insecurity but Koga reasoned him: "Don't worry; it's my first time too. We have time to discover ourselves…"

"But why not the other way? I mean, you seem like you always want to be the alpha one…"

Koga smiled: "Well the answer is simple: I don't want to hurt you. You don't have your demon healing powers because of the new moon."

- _**Warning: Lemon has been cut out, because of the no-smut rule. If you wish to read the full chapter with it, send me a PM**_

The moon was shining high in the sky and was reflecting on their sweaty bodies. Koga opened his eyes and saw that Inuyasha was already sleeping.

He collected the sleeping human in his arms; being a demon, he had more stamina than a human. He brought him back to the village, following Kagome's scent. He noticed that there was an outdoor bath that was still filled. He approached it and began cleaning Inuyasha and himself.

After finishing, he went to put Inuyasha in his bed, making sure no one would wake up.

As he came to pass the bedroom door, he looked back at the half-demon and right there he had an odd feeling in his gut. '_Damn. What have I done? What took me?_' Then it dawned on him; he could be pregnant because of that mating. But there would be a chance that he's not too. 'Yeah, I'm probably not'. But still, he had to clear his mind about all this: Inuyasha, that mating, and the consequences.

He slowly got out of the house. The wolf sighed and said aloud: "I hope you won't remember what we did tonight, Inuyasha… because _**I'll remember**__…_ without a doubt."

Koga sped off in the end of night. Inuyasha woke up in his bed, feeling something missing. He shrugged it off and went back to sleep.

* * *

Helloooo everyone! Yup, I'm back. For those who read "The Love of a Mother", I'm glad you're following my stories -giggles insanely-

I know this chapter took a while to write, but hey, it's the lemon's fault, seriously. This was my first, and in the beginning, I hadn't planned one, so yeah... I hope it wasn't too bad.

I must warn you though, because this story will only last about 5 to 6 chapters only. I haven't finished writing the plan of the story, so maybe I'll take time to finish it before writing chapter 2. Oh and please review... I love to read what you have to say... maybe someone will even leave some construtive critism...


	2. We missed you

Chapter 2 – We missed you

It was a cold autumn night; Miroku and Inuyasha were sitting by the fire inside an abandoned hut that they had found during the day. The girls and Shippo were fast asleep, cuddled in warm blankets.

The half-demon was gazing at the fire, lost in thoughts. A month and a half passed since the mating between Inuyasha and Koga. Strangely enough, Inuyasha forgot all about that special night; but he still felt something happened. He was also wondering why Koga hadn't visited him since a while.

Miroku looked up to notice his friend's worried expression: "Inuyasha, what's wrong?" he said, almost whispering not to wake the girls.

The dog demon shrugged and started to play with a hair strand.

Miroku knew Inuyasha wasn't the talking type, so he improvised. He was aware it was a risky terrain, but he had to know: "Is it because Koga hasn't came to see you since a while?"

Inuyasha looked away and growled lightly.

Miroku frowned, looking around to see if Inuyasha hadn't woken up the others in the hut: "Shush! Do you want them to know your secret… especially Kagome?" He knew those words would be enough to calm his friend.

"Yes."

The monk showed a surprised look on his face: "What do you mean 'yes'? About the secret or- "

"-About Koga" Inuyasha cut in, not wanting to talk much about it. He stared again at the burning fire, trying to evade the subject, but Miroku didn't intend to let go.

As the monk opened his mouth to say something, Inuyasha's ears perked up on his head.

"What's wrong, Inuyasha? A demon? Is it Naraku?"

Inuyasha didn't answer immediately, but held his hand in the air, showing he was trying to listen, a troubled look on his face. As he put back down his hand, he got up and told Miroku: "Listen, I'll be back soon."

The monk stopped him: "But what did you hear?"

The half-demon turned around: "It was nothing, only the wind tricking my ears. I think… I just need fresh air…" He tried to hide the emotions in his voice.

Miroku felt rejected as the dog demon got out of the abandoned hut.

°°°

Inuyasha was shocked when he had heard his name carried by the wind from inside the small house. He was now walking fast toward the source of the voice and his breath could be seen because of the cold temperature outside.

He hadn't told Miroku because he was sure it had been Koga's voice, although it was weak.

He tried to use his keen nose to find him, but his scent seemed a bit different. '_Strange. But still, I have to find him if he's actually here._' He frowned, wondering why the wolf had taken that much time to come back.

"Inuyasha…"

It was barely whispered, but Inuyasha had heard it again. This time, he ran toward the source. He stopped at about ten meters from a standing figure in the cold night.

He saw someone he hadn't seen in a least a month and a half, maybe more: "Koga!"

Koga fell on his knees. "Inuyasha…" He sounded so troubled… and lost.

The dog demon approached the wolf demon, not too sure of what to do since it wasn't like him to show his weaknesses; Koga was too proud for that.

"Okay…" Inuyasha said, unsure of what to say. He helped the other to get up from his knees. He cleared his throat: "What are you doing here? And what's with the strange garments?" Koga was dressed in a long cape with a large hood. It was covering all his body and it was closed, as if he was hiding something.

"I… huh, Inu-" He stopped there, trying to keep the knot in his throat from blocking his voice, without shedding some tears. He soon realised that he wouldn't be able to talk, so he moved toward Inuyasha and clutched his fire rat coat, setting his head on Inuyasha's chest.

Inuyasha, surprised by this move, automatically encircled Koga with his arms. The wolf was crying softly and tried to speak: "Oh, Inuyasha. I… **_we missed you_** so much. I couldn't make up my mind and come to see you again…" He wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand and sniffed.

Inuyasha took a moment to realise what Koga had told him: "We? Who is 'we'? What are you talking about?" The hanyou was confused.

"I'm talking about this." He pressed his mid-section on Inuyasha's. "It's in here" he simply added. Inuyasha felt Koga's hard rounded stomach on his flat and muscled one. He didn't really understand until something softly hit him. He looked down in Koga's eyes; tears were blurring the wolf's vision.

Inuyasha's eyes widened. He backed away from the other demon: "No! It can't be. But why? What- No! How?"

Koga approached the backing demon, trying to calm down Inuyasha, while holding his belly with an arm protectively: "It's okay Inuyasha. If you want, I'll… I'll go away, and you won't ever see me again. I'll take care of the pup myself. I'm sorry…"

That didn't sound like what the wolf prince would normally say. The said demon turned to go away, but Inuyasha put his hand on the pregnant demon's arm: "No. Don't go. I- That's not the way I wanted to react, I was just surprised… that's all."

Inuyasha brought the wolf closer to him, barely an inch separating them. Waiting the other to calm down, he helped him to sit down; with Koga sitting between his legs and leaning against his chest, he rubbed his back, soothing him: "Ssshh, it's okay, now. I'm sorry I reacted that way…"

Koga sniffed, still surprising Inuyasha with that strange behaviour: "I'm so sorry Inuyasha, when I learned that I was pregnant, I couldn't believe it myself. I have been hiding all this time."

The half-demon gasped: "What! You've been hiding? Damn it Koga, you could have been seriously hurt because of your condition. Why didn't you go at least to your den? They could have helped you if you didn't want to come to me in the first place."

Koga buried his face in the other's clothes and mumbled something.

"Sorry Koga, but I didn't understand clearly, even with my sensitive ears" Inuyasha said softly.

Koga repeated: "I said, that if I would have gone to the den, they would have rejected me as the leader of the pack since I mated without actually completing a mating bond. They would have treated me like dirt... and probably would have wanted to kill my pup."

With that sentence, Koga started to cry again, feeling awfully alone, even though he was in Inuyasha's arms.

The half-demon, getting a bit annoyed by the crying, decided to change a bit the subject: "So… how far are you?"

Koga looked up at Inuyasha and sniffed again: "Well… I'm a month and nineteen days along." He smiled at the other, proud to announce his lover this information.

"Oh." Inuyasha didn't know what else to answer.

They sat there for a while when, out of the blue, Koga asked shyly: "Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you… kiss me?"

Inuyasha blinked; he was a bit surprised at the wolf demon's question, but still, he answered: "Sure, why not?" So he bend his head toward the other and captured Koga's lips slowly and he poured a lot of emotions in it, showing the pregnant demon he wasn't alone anymore and that everything would be fine…or so he thought.

°°°

Miroku had been fixating the fire for a while and yet, he still couldn't fall asleep. He sighed and yawned out of boredom. He poked at the fire with a stick, wondering what Inuyasha was doing outside at this time of the night; after all, he had said that he would be back soon.

For a split of a second, he blinked, and when he opened his eyes, Chikara was in front of him, smiling at him.

He jumped a bit backward, but caught himself just in time from yelling; he surely didn't want to wake anyone. "What are you doing here?" he whispered at the goddess, quickly looking around to check if everyone was sleeping peacefully. He then returned his full attention to the goddess.

'_Well, I'm not actually here; this is only a projection of myself that I created with my powers. I simply came to visit you guys, to see if everything was okay. I'm sorry if I scared you_.' She smiled widely, happy to see him and the others.

Miroku was stunned because she hadn't moved her lips, and yet, he had heard her talk.

Upon seeing he didn't give a reply, Chikara added: '_You can speak through your thoughts not to wake the others_' she said, smiling at the monk.

He nodded and tried to answer: '_Okay… can you hear me?_'

She nodded.

'_Wow, that's amazing! Did you learn that recently?_' he asked.

'_Yes. While living at the castle, I now have all my time to concentrate on developing my powers. I lost a bit track of time; I'm sorry I didn't visit earlier._' She looked around the small hut. '_Where's Inuyasha?_' she said, changing the subject.

The monk shrugged: '_He's outside, in the forest. Earlier, he said that he had heard something and he went to look for it. Buddha is sending me strong vibes about that thing; I'm pretty sure it's Koga._'

'_What's wrong with him?_'

He shrugged: '_I don't know. He hasn't visited since more than a month and that got Inuyasha preoccupied._'

'_Oh. I'll go check on him. Good bye and may all the Gods bless your journey._' She slightly bowed and disappeared in thin air.

'_Good bye, Chikara._'

°°°

Back into the dept of the forest, Inuyasha was still sitting on the ground with Koga cuddled against his chest.

They were talking when out of nowhere Chikara appeared in front of them. She both surprised them, like they had been caught while doing something terrible. "Chi-chi- Chikara?" Inuyasha stuttered out.

"Greetings to you two." She was about to continue when she noticed something that wasn't pleasing her one bit. She frowned at the two demons: "What's going on here?" she asked sternly.

Inuyasha got up, as to defend his point; he helped the pregnant demon to get up. He cleared his throat: "Firstly, hi to you too. Secondly, we were simply… talking."

She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips together, showing that she wasn't in the mood to joke around: " Don't insult my intelligence Inuyasha. What Koga is doing here, definitely _pregnant_… and why was he cuddled with you? Should I assume you are the father?" Her blood red eyes scanned the wolf demon.

"I… well… yes. I am the father of the pup" Inuyasha said, dropping his shoulders, like he had been defeated.

She hummed, showing she acknowledged what he had said.

With swift movements, she approached closer to Koga, her black hair flowing in the air. She stopped in front of him: "So… you're pregnant…" she said, more to herself than anyone else.

As she stood there, all sorts of thought passed through her head, but what she did next hadn't been expected by any of the two demons. She huffed and walked furiously toward Inuyasha; as she was close to him, she brought a hand in the air and slapped him.

Inuyasha had closed his eyes, not because he was afraid it would hurt, but simply because out of instinct. As the demons waited for a slap sound, noting happened.

"The-the hand pa-passed right through you, Inuyasha! Chikara's a ghost!" Koga said, not believing his eyes.

Chikara clenched her teeth and ignored Koga's comment: "Be lucky this is only a projection of myself, because I _swear_ you would have felt my anger through this slap." She took in a breath, trying to calm down. "What did you think!"

Inuyasha was stunned at the question, not really knowing the answer himself.

Koga soon realized if nothing would be said, the goddess might get angrier, so he gave her a shy reply: "Well… if you wanna know… it's all my fault." He gave a quick glance at Inuyasha, whom was shaking his head to tell Koga to stop. "I'm the one who offered my body to him. Don't blame him, please Chikara" he added.

Chikara rolled her eyes: "Koga, I understand you want to defend Inuyasha, but you must remember that to create a life, two are needed." She looked at both demons and said: "Haven't you thought of all the consequences this child – _or children_ – will bring? Naraku is still very alive; what if he decided to come for you?"

The demons looked at each other; Inuyasha noticed that Koga was on the verge of crying _again_. He took his lover in his arms and tried to soothe him.

Chikara was lost in thoughts again, trying to find some solution, when she came up with something: "Listen Koga: I offer you- no I want you to come back at the castle with me. You'll pass the few months you've got left inside the secured castle walls." She paused to let the males take in the information.

Koga was the first to react, although it wasn't much of a reaction: "I can't stay."

Chikara frowned, not liking 'no' as an answer: "Yes you will!" she said, determined. "How many months have you left? Huh? Will you stay hidden all this time, with the fear of being found pending over your head?"

She looked deeply into the wolf's eyes, waiting.

Koga saw he had no choice, so he answered to her: "I still have about another month and ten days, more or less. And no, I don't want to hide to protect my unborn child. But I won't feel comfortable at the castle" he said, lowering his head.

Chikara was about to say something when Inuyasha finally spoke up: "Do you honestly think Sesshoumaru will be okay with having Koga in _his_ castle?" he said, sarcastically, crossing his arms on his chest.

She chuckled; she knew Inuyasha wouldn't give in so easily. "Whether he likes it or not, he won't have much choice."

"We're not mates, Chikara. He won't accept this pup in his castle; it hasn't been conceived between two bonded demons." The half-demon didn't like the idea of have Koga far from him.

"He will because Koga's tribe is one of the most reliable alliances the Western Lands have since a hell lot of time. Count on me to remind him that important notion." She smiled. "Don't worry about it, you'll be in good hands, Koga."

Inuyasha still didn't like Chikara's decision. He was about to protest when Koga gently pat his shoulder and said: "Inuyasha, please, stop arguing. I'm tired and cold."

The half-demon looked into the other demon's eyes. He saw Koga was indeed tired and that he needed his sleep for the sake of their pup. "Fine," he said with a loud sigh, "but still, I don't approve." He turned to look at the goddess: "So, in which direction do we need to go to find the castle?"

Chikara immediately corrected the half-demon: "No, you are not going. You are going to stay with the others; they need your protection, Inuyasha." She turned toward Koga: "As for you, tomorrow morning, I will arrive with a cortege of soldiers to escort us back to the castle."

Again, Inuyasha was ready to argue, but remembered Koga's words, so he kept it down. He took a deep breath: "Can you promise me you take good care of him?" he asked calmly, encircling his arms around Koga protectively.

Chikara only nodded. "But there's one detail that's been left out, though."

With a questioning look on his face, Koga asked: "And what would it be?"

She gave the demons a sad look: "What do you intend to do tonight?"

Inuyasha blushed: "What do you mean, Chikara?"

The goddess laughed: "Gods, Inuyasha, that's not what I meant… Are you going back to the camp?"

"Yeah, sure. Or else they're gonna ask questions about that nightly escapade… damn. Now I know what we forgot." He turned toward Koga: "What are we going to tell the others about… you?"

The wolf demon didn't have an answer so Chikara, whom had been thinking about it, spoke up: "Well maybe I have something." She paused, waiting for the others' approval: "Inuyasha, let's say that during the night, you couldn't sleep… and-"

"Actually, I heard Koga calling my name from outside, in the forest. Then I followed the sound and there I found him" Inuyasha cut her sentence.

"Okay, but you mustn't mention the fact that you two are… intimate. So instead, let's pretend that having no one to turn to for help, Koga came to you, Inuyasha." She tapped her finger against her chin: "If they ask about Koga's mate, we'll answer them that he didn't want the pup, so he… abandoned Koga."

Koga, whom had been listening, said: "Well, don't you think that the others will find this a bit… suspicious? I mean, won't Kagome feel hurt or something… after all, I always said that I loved her and that I wanted her, no? How is she going to react to the fact that I had a mate?"

The half-demon and the goddess agreed; to prove to the gang that the story was true, they had to act properly. Inuyasha spoke up: "Well Koga, anyways, you _do_ have me, so it doesn't make a major difference in that lie."

"This will certainly be a bit hard emotionally for both of you, but you two must act like there's nothing between you; no touching, always arguing and name calling, and so on. You think you'll be able?" Chikara asked, determined.

Inuyasha nodded immediately, but Koga hesitated a bit before nodding his answer.

Chikara smiled, satisfied with the outcome of all this. "Good, now I'll get going if I want to get here in the morning." She approached Koga and placed her ghostly hands on his shoulders: "Don't worry, your pup will be fine. Now go to sleep, tomorrow will be a big day and you need all your strength." She turned to Inuyasha: "As for you, take good care of him… and no naughty things tonight because I want him to be fresh and alert for the journey." She smiled: "And take care of you too; I hope you can do that."

Inuyasha was about to reply when a hand gently grabbed his arm: "Let's go to sleep… mutt."

The half-demon sent Koga a playful glare.

"What? I'm practising for tomorrow" he chuckled.

Inuyasha took hold of the wolf's chin: "You'd better be." He leaned in, placing a small kiss on the other's lips.

Chikara cleared her throat: "I'm still there, you guys. It seems that I'm not needed here anymore." She bowed slightly: "See you soon." And she vanished in thin air.

Both canine demons decided to sleep in the woods, even on the cold weather. Inuyasha build a small fire and they snuggled closely, to keep themselves warm.

As they fell asleep, Inuyasha put a hand on Koga's swollen stomach and dreamed of his future little family, a smile tugging at his lips.

* * *

Hi guys, sorry for the wait. I hope this chap is not too bad, I think it's boring, but meh... Anyways, I'm not much into writing these days. I've been drawing a lot, trying to submit something at DeviantArt. So, please leave reviews and it will make me happy! 


	3. He's pregnant

Chapter 3 – He's pregnant

Chikara was back at the castle around midnight. She hadn't decided if she should tell her husband before parting or not.

Still, it took her a few minutes; she decided that she should inform him of the situation. She would have to use a projection of herself again though, as he was travelling outside his country.

Chikara concentrated again, trying to find Sesshoumaru's location by using the power of her elements. As she found him, she transported her soul toward his position, rendering her body inanimate.

He was surprised to see her appearing in front of him; at first, he thought there was some kind of emergency. "Greetings to you, my dear" he said gracefully. "What are you doing here? Is there some kind of problem?"

"No… well, kind of" she answered him, opting for an evasive answer. She thought right then that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to inform him about Inuyasha's situation. She gave him a goofy grin.

He knew she was hiding something. "Is there something wrong with Inuyasha?" His young brother had some kind of gift to get into trouble, so that's why he had suggested that name first.

"Yes… I mean…!" Chikara slapped herself mentally: '_Great. Stupid._' She took a deep breath, not really knowing how Sesshoumaru would react: "Okay, hum… there's this demon…"

He nodded slowly, encouraging her to continue, knowing he probably wouldn't like the outcome of this 'problem'.

She fidgeted a bit, trying to find the right words to say: "Well, it's kind of funny… actually no, it's not. Ahem, okay. Inuyasha got some demon pregnant and I believe they're in deep shit." She exhaled loudly. '_There, it was easy…right?_' she waited for an answer from her mate, but he didn't seem to have a reaction to this.

"Huh, darling?" she asked carefully, cocking her head on one side. "You heard what I said, right?"

He nodded gracefully and looked at her in the eyes: "How could there be a problem about Inuyasha taking a mate?"

She shrugged with her shoulders, not really knowing what to say. But then, she said uneasily: "Well… they didn't bond."

If Sesshoumaru would have been eating, he would have choked on his food: "What! Who is the other one?" he asked sternly.

She noticed the change in his behaviour; she backed a bit and answered him: "Listen, I will tell you only if you promise me not to get mad at this demon… and you let him stay at the castle for his own protection." Her face clearly showed that she didn't want to change her mind. "Naraku is still alive and I want him and the pup to live."

He nodded, though he was a bit angry… '_Wait! Did she say _'him'' he thought. He closed his fist: "The demon is male?"

"Yes… hehe," she chuckled nervously, "I guess I can't hide it longer: it's Koga, leader of the wolf tribe…"

Sesshoumaru gasped of surprise, but his mood switch immediately back to anger.

Chikara had to react quickly: "…you know, he's from _that_ tribe that has been your most loyal ally all these years?" she tried to remind him that important notion.

Inside, Sesshoumaru was fuming, although he didn't want to let it show. He closed his eyes; they would surely betray him by showing too much negative emotions, thinking his wife hadn't noticed. "Can't he go to his own caves? If they are not bonded, then he has nothing to do with the Western Lands and its royal family."

"Please Sesshoumaru," she cringed at what she had said; she hated to plea to have something, "he doesn't want to go home. He said they would treat him like dirt and he has no where else to go…"

Chikara gave her mate a pleading look.

He finally replied: "Fine… He can stay. _But!_ I will have a serious discussion with Inuyasha next time I see him." He then mumbled something to himself, but Chikara didn't push her luck to ask him about what he had said.

Her red eyes glowed with happiness and she was practically hopping in the air: "Really? Thanks dear, and _please_, be nice with Inuyasha… I don't want to see blood." She gave him a ghostly kiss and vanished in the air, like she had come.

The demon lord sighed and shook his head; why wasn't he able to say 'no' to her?

°°°

Kagome was the first one to wake up in the early morning. She stretched and let out a loud yawn that woke up Miroku. She looked at him with an apologizing look: "Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

The monk smiled at her: "It's okay, I couldn't sleep well anyways."

Kagome sat from her sleeping position and looked around.

Sango woke up, not long after hearing Miroku and Kagome talking. Kirara woke up too, stretching her small limbs. Shippo was still sleeping like a rock.

"Hey, where is Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, noticing his absence.

As Miroku was trying to make something up in his head to answer her, the said half-demon entered the small hut.

Seeing this, a smile appeared on Kagome's face and she was about to run up to him when she was stunned by something she thought impossible. After the dog demon, entered a certain pregnant wolf demon.

Kagome's eyes widened and she pointed at the wolf demon, stuttering: "What's wrong with him!"

Koga backed away and tried to hide his stomach with his large cape, out of shame.

Inuyasha, feeling a bit of anger building inside from Kagome's reaction, approached her and pushed her hand toward the floor: "You shouldn't point out like that! **_He's pregnant_**, OKAY?"

Sango gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

It took a few seconds for Kagome to take in the information; was her mind crazy? Or maybe she heard it wrong? Whatever it was, she felt a bit dizzy and fell backward, on her butt.

Seeing that it was maybe too much of a shock for Kagome, Inuyasha approached her and gave her a hand to get back up. He felt a bit guilty from yelling at her. "I'm sorry Kagome, I shouldn't have reacted like that…"

Sango added: "He's right, Kagome. _But,_ you should have been more polite too. What if it had been you in Koga's place? I'm sure you would have been terrified" she said, with a sad tone.

Kagome felt bad, so she apologized to the pregnant wolf demon.

"It's okay, Kagome" the wolf prince said shyly.

Miroku spoke up, changing the subject: "So, um… Koga, how come you are here?"

Inuyasha cut in, before any conversation could begin: "Wait, I think Koga should sit. He's not supposed to tire himself in… his condition."

"Inuyasha, I'm not an invalid, ya know…" Koga blushed, but gladly accepted the help to sit down.

Everyone was a bit dumbfounded at Inuyasha's _nice_ behaviour. Of course Miroku knew of Inuyasha and Koga's secret relationship as he had step on them a while back, but Kagome didn't know anything about it. Miroku had told Sango, so she knew too, but still it was a bit weird for her since they had been 'rivals' for a long time and now mates.

Now sitting, Koga knew the gang would want to know the reason of his presence. "Hum, okay. I… don't know how to say this but…"

Inuyasha mentally gasped; Koga looked like he was about to reveal their secret relationship to the others, so he cut him: "What Koga means is that last night, I was walking in the forest when I heard someone call my name. I went to see and found Koga… in a weak state."

Koga glared at Inuyasha: "That's so not true! I'm no weak demon!" He shook his head.

Kagome was surprised at Koga's childish behaviour: "Well, you can't say that you're at your full strength pregnant like that, right?" It was strange to Kagome to talk about a pregnant male, but she was slowly getting used to it.

The wolf demon looked away and mumbled something; Inuyasha took the opportunity to continue his little story: "So, I was surprised to see Koga… pregnant. Then I decided to bring him here since… he was alone."

Sango already saw what the half-demon had in mind, so she played along: "But where is your mate, Koga? Shouldn't he be with you… to be to your side through your pregnancy?"

Koga was a bit stunned, he never thought someone would ask directly: "Huh, well, I- yes… my mate well he kind of ran away when I told him of my pregnancy" he said, at first trying to sound sad, but he really started to cry because a thought had struck him: what if it had really happened to him? What if Inuyasha would have abandoned him? The hormones did the rest, thus the tears.

Kagome sat down beside the prince and rub his back to soothe him: "I'm sorry, Koga. We didn't know. Don't worry… we will help you."

Miroku wanted to see if they had planned this whole story entirely so he asked the wolf prince: "But why did you come to Inuyasha?"

Koga gulped. '_Okay, think of something quick..._' He took a deep breath: "Well, at first, my senses were a bit dulled, perhaps because of the pregnancy, so I thought Inuyasha's scent was my mate's. Anyone with a keen nose could see the slight difference, but it seems that I couldn't. I probably would have been able if it hadn't been of those stupid hormones and the overwhelming feeling of finally finding my mate…"

Koga stopped to look around; everyone seemed to believe his story he had just made up.

Inuyasha continued, knowing Kagome and the others would like to know the 'rest' of it: "Seeing that I wasn't his mate, Koga was about to go away when I asked him what was going on. So he told me the whole story and I offered him to come here with us… It's a horrible thing to leave a pregnant mate alone, especially with Naraku still roaming around." The half-demon closed his fist, showing he was trying to be sympathetic to Koga's situation.

Kagome felt sorry for the wolf demon. "So… how far are you? From what I see, you must be at least six months, maybe more…"

The prince lift an eyebrow: "What are you talking about? I'm a month and, today, twenty days along." He chuckled: "If I was even at only four months, I would be on the edge of exploding!"

Inuyasha added: "Listen Kagome, the pregnancy of canine demons only last around three moons."

Kagome's eyes widened: "Oh… wow. This is great" she smiled, "I'm sure all women would love to wait only a third of the nine months." She turned to Sango who approved with a lot of vigour. The modern girl quickly made the calculation; if Koga was human, he would be… '_God, that doesn't make sense. He's way too big for around his fifth month… unless_…'

Miroku thought it was a bit strange that Inuyasha wanted Koga to stay with them, since they were travelling and danger was constant for them. "So, Koga's going to travel with us?"

Sango, seeing what Miroku meant, added: "Yeah, isn't it a bit too dangerous for a pregnant… demon?"

Koga felt a bit left out, even though he was in a hut with people. Changing from happy to sad, he looked up at Inuyasha and simply said: "I wanna a hug…"

The half-demon's eyes widened, thinking Koga was crazy to ask something that could seem intimate by the others. "What? No, I'm not… your servant." He sighed mentally, hoping Koga won't take it personally.

Water started to gather in the demon's eyes: "But, but… you promised me you would take care of the pup and I!"

Kagome was a bit angered by Inuyasha's childish behaviour: "Honestly, Inuyasha, he only wants a hug! He's not asking you to become his _mate_… and since you promised that poor Koga you'd protect him, you'd better do it!"

Inuyasha's ears flattened on his skull and tried to say, with a bit of faked anger in his voice: "Fine. I'm glad Chikara's supposed to come to get you; I won't have to stand any more of those kinds of things from you." He said to the pregnant demon.

Inuyasha kneeled down at Koga's level and encircled his arms around the demon, putting his head on his shoulder, while patting his back gently. He brought his mouth closer to Koga's pointed ears and whispered so softly that only he heard: "I'm sorry, I'm only trying to act right."

Sango and Miroku looked at each other, knowing Inuyasha was only acting hostile toward Koga because he didn't want the others to know his relationship with the wolf.

But the monk reacted to something Inuyasha had just said: "Did you say that Chikara is coming here?"

Inuyasha got up and nodded at his friend: "Yeah, because she thinks he'll be safer inside the castle's wall. She's coming this morning to take him…" he said, trying to hide the sadness in his voice.

"How does she know about this?" Sango asked.

Koga, who finally spoke, answered her: "She came to visit Inuyasha last night, and she saw me… that's how."

"She visited in the middle of the night?" Kagome said, stupefied that the goddess would do something like that.

Miroku felt like he should say something: "Well, she came early in the night, as an apparition, but you girls were already asleep when she came. She didn't want to disturb your sleep, so she didn't stay long. Before going, she said she wanted to check on Inuyasha so I guess that's what she did."

"Are you sure your brother won't mind her bringing Koga in his castle?" Sango asked, finding it a bit strange that a cold-hearted demon like Sesshoumaru would agree to have someone not from his clan in his home.

Inuyasha chuckled: "Well, even if he doesn't want to, Chikara will definitely convince him anyway… she can be very stubborn sometimes, so I guess he won't have much choice."

"More stubborn than you, Inuyasha?" Koga said, laughing his ass off.

The gang started to laugh at that remark, which woke up Shippo. "Hey, can't you guys calm down a bit? It's too early for me…" The small fox rubbed his eyes, and saw the wolf demon: "Oh hi Koga… hey did you gain some weight?"

Kagome frowned a bit; she didn't want Koga to be upset about his weight gain: "Now, Shippo, can't you see Koga's pregnant?"

The little fox demon rubbed his eyes again and yawned. He approached the wolf demon while everyone was staring at him, trying to find out what he was going to do.

Shippo stopped when he was near the wolf's rounded belly and sat beside him; he patted it gently and brought his ear close to it and fell back to sleep.

"What the?" Inuyasha said.

"Um, Shippo, I don't think Koga likes that. Come over here with me instead…" Sango offered, but the demon child didn't answer back.

The pregnant demon laughed softly and petted the young fox's hair. "It's okay, the kid's only curious. He isn't doing anything wrong… and anyways, I have to get accustomed to children since I'm going to be a parent soon…" he smiled sweetly.

Inuyasha smirked at Koga's mention of parenthood. '_Yeah, and you're not the only one; I'm going to be a father too._'

Kagome sat beside the wolf demon: "Can I…?"

Koga nodded, not minding.

The young woman brought a slightly shaky hand to her friend's protruded stomach. She felt the baby shyly hit where her hand was.

"This pup is going to be strong, I'm sure of it" Kagome smiled widely.

"Or pups… we're not capable of saying yet if there's only one… or more" Inuyasha reminded the gang.

Koga blushed and looked up at Inuyasha with a strange look.

Kagome saw the older demon's face getting 'coloured': "Is there something wrong Koga?"

The wolf shook is head.

Inuyasha approached his pregnant lover and helped him to get up.

Koga got out of the hut, leaving everyone puzzled.

Sango blinked and Kagome asked: "What happened?"

Inuyasha sat back down where he had been sitting. Feeling all eyes on him, he answered bluntly: "Koga simply needed to pee. Must be the pup's fault for kicking his bladder."

Miroku tried to stifle a giggle because of the girls' shocked expression.

Kagome was about to ask how the half-demon had been able to decipher Koga's expression when the said demon re-entered the small house with a certain goddess behind him.

Chikara of the Sun quickly glanced around the single-roomed house. With her generally joyful personality, she tried to hide the nervousness she was feeling. "Good morning, everyone!"

The others greeted her back, happy to see her.

She approached Koga, who had gotten back to his previous sitting spot: "So, how are you doing today?" She examined his face intensely. She frowned when she noticed that his face was too thin: "You don't eat enough, lad."

Koga blushed slightly at the motherly tone she had used. "I know, but I generally don't eat much as I'm not hungry often."

Kagome joined the discussion: "Chikara's right: you are way too thin, it can't be good for your health or the baby's" she warned the wolf demon with her finger, pointing his belly.

The goddess sighed and clapped her hands; two guards from Sesshoumaru's castle entered with big crates.

The gang looked curiously at the two boxes; one of the two guards, a large ox demon, opened the first crate. He started to take food out of it and placed it on the floor.

"I brought this to eat, as I know food is hard to find in late autumn" the goddess said, pointing the first crate. "And I brought these to help you through your journey" she added, pointing at the other.

Sango was relieved to see that they wouldn't have to worry about that, since they didn't own a lot of money. "Thank you very much, Chikara."

"Bah, it's nothing, really. Back at the castle, there's plenty" the older woman answered.

°°°

After breakfast, Chikara got up and helped Koga to get up as well. "My friends," she started, "it is time for Koga and I to part. I was glad to see you." She gave a goodbye hug to everyone.

Koga waited by the door, trying to ignore the awkward moment between his friends and him; he wanted to kiss Inuyasha goodbye, but he couldn't because of the others.

Chikara saw the sadness in the pregnant demon's behaviour, so she tried to hurry up. When she took Inuyasha in her arms, she whispered: "Don't worry, I promise I'll take care of him."

Then they all got out of the hut, to see the wolf and the goddess leave.

Near the small house, was a carriage hauled by Rin's favourite demon pet, Ah-Un. Since the demon could fly, it was going to be faster to get to the castle.

The ox demon went to one of the carriage's trunk and took out a large coat of fur and brought it to Koga. The dragonfly demon helped to put the coat on Koga.

Chikara saw the puzzled look on her wolf friend; it was cool outside, but not enough cold to wear that: "We are going to fly to the castle, and up there," she said, pointing the sky, "is much colder than down here, in the forest."

Kagome saw that Chikara was wearing her normal attire: "Won't _you_ get cold dressed like that?"

The goddess had her short kimono that showed her graceful legs. Even with her leg warmers, Kagome doubted Chikara would keep herself warm.

"Well… don't you forget, Kagome, I'm the goddess of the Moon, but also of the Sun, so I don't have to worry about temperature. I drain my energy from my elements… unless the sky gets all covered up."

Kagome was about to say something else, but the goddess cut her before she could open her mouth: "And if that's the case, I have my own cape with a fur collar." She smiled like nothing was to worry about.

The modern girl tried to make a smile herself, but she was still a bit anxious: "Yeah, well you better be careful, you guys."

Koga approached Kagome, giving her a small hug, which made her blush, and said: "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

The girl made a shy smile, but in the back of her mind, something was telling her that it wouldn't be so simple. "You're right, I'm probably fussing for nothing" she said, not wanting to bring panic to her pregnant friend.

So, with this, they were about to go when an earthquake shook them all.

Roots started to squirt out of the forest ground and destroy the trees to get their way toward the gang. Then they all came together, forming a large amount of roots and from under them, a white baboon appeared.

Sango took her giant boomerang from the hut and yelled at everyone to be prepared.

Most of the forest animals within the region had escaped; the forest was silent, except from the sound of the enemy.

As the baboon was about to speak, everyone's blood froze in their veins, as they knew what was going to happen next.

* * *

Hi everyone! Hehe, sorry for the delay, but... I was too lazy to get to writing this chapter. Anyways, I've started University, so I doubt it'll be easy to update, but I'll try my best. Please review! I love reading your comments.  



	4. Anger

Chapter 4 – Anger

As a light miasma clouded the rising sun, the battle had already begun.

It didn't take long before Naraku eliminated the weak guards that were accompanying Chikara. The ox demon was killed by receiving a root straight in his heart. As for the dragonfly demon, he didn't have much luck either and suffered while a bunch of the white baboon's limbs were crushing his bones into dust.

Inuyasha gasped, his mind racing, he was quick enough to think about Koga's defenceless position: "Chikara! Protect Koga!" he yelled, pulling Tetsusaiga out of its sheath. He knew of her impenetrable energy shields, so he thought she was the most reliable individual for the dangerous situation.

The goddess nodded once and hurriedly closed the distance between her and the wolf demon; quickly looking around, she spotted the small fox demon, giving him a signal to come too. She smiled reassuringly at Koga as he looked at her straight in the eyes, seeing her intentions.

The pregnant demon was terrified at the idea of getting hurt; a small feeling of panic invaded him and he clutched one of Chikara's large sleeves, his breath becoming uneven. He didn't like being an easy target, especially for Naraku. '_Heck, I don't like being weak at all…_' he said to himself.

The goddess closed her eyes as soon as Shippo was beside them, ignoring the wolf demon's bout of fear and concentrated on accumulating energy instead. '_This will help him to calm down_.' She took a deep breath: "Power of the Sun, please give me strength to give someone a strong shelter." She spun her staff in the air and planted forcefully its bottom into the forest ground, so it was standing on its own.

The gang sighed of relief when the moon and sun sceptre pulsated twice and created a large sphere of orange light, surrounding the ageless woman and the two demons. Chikara frowned, a slightly wicked smile forming on her lips; the half-spider demon can't do anything to hurt Koga, Shippo or herself at that moment. Maybe she was rather weak on the offensive, but her defences were close to unbreakable.

The demon's roots calmed for a while; the shield had captured his attention. "Well well, what do we have here? My, what a precious treasure you are protecting…" Naraku sneered. "I guess someone has been busy…" He analysed the energy shield. "You think this cheap magic trick will hold me off?" He plunged a root toward it: "Let's see about that!"

Shippo yipped and jumped onto Koga's shoulder, grabbing it to ensure he wouldn't fall. The poor fox demon was trembling, so the wolf demon took him in his arms to soothe the poor child.

Thankfully, the sphere wasn't affected by Naraku's attacks; there were only ripples on the shield's surface from the demon's assault. Chikara growled: "You won't hurt him, you bastard!!!" Her fist curled. Even though Naraku couldn't attain them, it was still annoying to receive his blows.

Chikara noticed how Shippo had trouble containing his fears and how it was affecting Koga. '_Shippo, calm down, you are scaring Koga and it's not good for him_' she thought for herself; she wanted to tell the fox demon telepathically, but she did not have any time to lose explaining how she could talk in people's mind to the small demon.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango tried to cut through the moving limbs as Miroku did his best to stop them with his monk staff. Of course, he couldn't do much because of the presence of Naraku's hell bees. Not being able to use his wind tunnel was becoming a classic; he cursed under his breath. Kirara roared and attacked the roots too and at the same time, protecting Sango.

"Don't worry Miroku, we'll get through this, like every time" Sango tried to cheer him up.

The monk nodded at his friend's encouragements. "Yes." He turned toward Inuyasha and yelled: "Protect Kagome, Sango and I will take care of the roots."

From the other side of the battle, the half-demon grumbled: "If he thinks I'm gonna let him have all the fun, he's damn wrong about that…" Tetsusaiga was already out of its sheath and Inuyasha was blocking the roots coming in his and Kagome's direction.

Kagome, from behind Inuyasha, shot an arrow at Naraku's puppet. The arrow damaged a lot the baboon, but the roots came toward the injury, closing the hole.

"It's regenerating itself with the aid of the roots!" Sango gasped. This was going to be a long battle.

"Thanks, but-" Inuyasha cut a root coming toward him, "I think-" he dodged another, "we already noticed that!" he said, with sarcasm in his voice, making sure Sango had heard him.

Kagome frowned beside the half-demon: "Inuyasha, it's not the time for this stuff" she warned him.

The half-demon growled, showing he didn't care. At the moment, his mind was concentrated more on his mate than anything else and he didn't care much about Sango's feelings.

Far from them on the battle ground, Chikara was trying her hardest to make the defence sphere not falter. She knew the moment it would weaken, even for a second, Naraku would take advantage of it. She didn't want to break her promise to protect Koga. She shot a quick glance behind her; Koga was still terrified. His body didn't let it show, but his eyes were saying everything. "Hold on, Koga. Stay close to me and everything is going to be alright."

He nodded slowly, like he didn't want to bother her. He looked at Inuyasha and wished his lover wouldn't get hurt because he wouldn't forgive himself if Inuyasha died. '_Come on Koga, you know Inuyasha is stronger than this_' he tried to convince himself. He petted Shippo's hair nervously, hoping it would calm himself down.

Back to Kagome, it was evident she was boiling with **_anger_**; she wanted to help defeat Naraku, to protect Koga. She knew though, that hiding behind Inuyasha wasn't going to help the others.

The modern girl looked in Sango and Miroku's direction; they were not really efficient and fatigue was starting to show on their face. Kagome was getting worried about their safety. She decided to approach Inuyasha, determined to do something and whispered in his ear: "Listen, I want you to create a diversion so I can shot an arrow through Naraku's heart… it works everytime."

Inuyasha turned to face Kagome, with a sour expression on his face; he didn't like the plan. His eyes narrowed; but, if Kagome thought it was going to work, there's no point to try to stop her when her mind was set. The half-demon growled slightly to show his disagreement: "Okay, when I'll jump toward the puppet with Tetsusaiga, you'll be able to act." He sighed deeply.

She was about to say something, but he cut her: "Do it quick… and be careful."

Kagome nodded and, before jumping into the action, she sent a look at the goddess and the pregnant wolf demon. '_Guard him well, Chikara._' The young woman felt an energy rush, pushing power through her long legs.

At the same moment, the said goddess looked at the running half-demon. '_What is he doing?! Kagome is left unprotected… Wait_' she saw the modern priestess taking her bow and quiver, ready for action, while running. A bout of panic invaded Chikara; she would have yelled at Kagome to not do it, but she kept silent because she knew Naraku would try something and the young girl could get hurt.

Chikara could only frown at the scene. "She's insane. I have to find a way to stop her…" she said to herself, but Koga heard what she had said and thought the same.

"I hope she knows what she's doing" he murmured.

The goddess didn't bother to answer as she was praying the bad feeling in the back of her mind would go. Her eyes darted to Naraku's puppet; he didn't seem to want to stop its attacks on the energy shield and on the others.

The baboon seemed to enjoy this battle: "Do you honestly think you can kill me with those puny attacks?" he chuckled darkly.

As Kagome ran around Naraku, making sure she would be ready when Inuyasha gave her the signal, she quickly eyed the battle. She hoped her attack would at least help the half-demon to damage the baboon or even better, give him a chance to kill it.

Sango gave another swing of her Hiraikotsu to destroy the invading roots. Breath was running out and exhaustion was starting to show. Kirara growled, seeing Sango's distress.

The demon slayer looked in Miroku's direction; he wasn't looking great himself.

The monk took a few seconds to look around, and spotted Kagome behind Naraku. His eyes widened at the comprehension of the objectives the young priestess had. '_No! What is she going to do?!_'

Seeing Miroku's horrified facial expression, the demon slayer looked in the direction which her friend was staring at and was shocked herself at the modern girl's goal; her bow and arrow were ready. Sango immediately thought to stop her from doing an almost suicidal act.

Despite the demon slayer's best intentions, she yelled at Kagome to stop, but she had forgotten that if the other girl had heard, Naraku also had.

Almost instantly, the evil half-demon started to grow roots in Kagome's direction, cackling at the demon slayer's fatal error.

Inuyasha who was about to attack Naraku, giving at the same time Kagome the signal to shoot, immediately abandoned the first goal. He started to run toward her, cutting through thick layers of roots Naraku was growing to block Inuyasha's way.

The small but pointy root was approaching Kagome; Inuyasha was running. They were racing to get to the girl first. Unfortunately, the time it took everyone to gasp, the Naraku's weapon passed through the young women's shoulder, making a disgusting sound.

Kagome shrilled loudly and was forced to the ground because of the strength of the attack.

Once Inuyasha was by her side, she started mumbling something about her wound not being very significant and that Naraku was more important than herself, that she would survive.

Inuyasha frowned and called her stupid: "Look at your shoulder, it's pouring blood all over you." The moment he paused, another root was fraying its way to Kagome again. The dog demon destroyed it into ashes with the aid of Tetsusaiga. He looked around and stopped at Chikara, who was looking at him from afar: "Chikara! Come and heal Kagome, quick!"

The goddess saw immediately worry in Kagome's eyes. She knew the young woman would live through that wound, if Naraku was going to be beaten soon, that is. But if Inuyasha wanted her to heal Kagome's injury, which meant he wouldn't change his stubborn mind, she would have to let go of the protective shield around herself, Koga and Shippo. She cringed at the thought of leaving them unprotected.

Chikara sighed and talked to the half dog demon through telepathy: '_But Inuyasha, what about Koga? If I come for Kagome, my shield will have to be taken off as I need my sceptre to heal someone. Your mate will be open to danger!_'

At first, the dog demon was surprised at hearing voices in his head, but the second he understood the message, he replied to Chikara: '_As soon as I run toward you, you come here._' He looked at the puppet; it didn't seem to notice what they were planning. He sighed in relief.

The goddess nodded and took off her outer kimono, ready to fly off. She had her hand on her sceptre, ready to release the energy shield. She breathed deeply; anxiety was building. '_What if Koga gets hurt?_' she asked herself. She was frowning as the roots were not stopping their attacks. '_I have to be fast, or else…_'

The pregnant demon beside her was startled by the sudden change of behaviour of the blond goddess. "Chikara, what's wrong? What are you doing?!"

She turned to him.

He looked into her blue eyes and gasped at the confusion and uncertainty in them.

"Do not worry, my friend" was all the ageless woman answered. Herself didn't even know if their tactic would work; she could only pray.

Inuyasha looked quickly at Kagome beside him: "Don't ya worry, Chikara's coming."

"No, Inuyasha! Don't do it. I'm going to survive" the young priestess said, lying on the ground, clutching her shoulder.

'_Chikara_' the half-demon called.

Then the said goddess pulled her staff from the forest ground; the energy protecting them vanished. She stretched out her white bird wings and crouched to gather air under them.

She jumped into the air; Inuyasha was running the fastest he could.

Chikara set herself near Kagome and the half-demon was at his lover's side to protect him. The goddess immediately spun her staff, and made it float in the air. She brought her hands to eye level, palm toward the sky: "Power of the Sun! Lend me your strength to heal this girl!" Orange energy glowed form her hands as she continued with some chanting.

Sango and Miroku came over to shield the two women from the attacks of Naraku's puppet. The demon slayer looked at Kagome's wound, which was slowly closing; she winced at the idea of receiving such a blow.

From the other part of the battleground, Inuyasha was with Shippo and Koga. Would he had been alone with his pregnant lover, he would have taken the wolf in his arms to reassure him. Shippo jumped on Inuyasha's shoulder and hanged on tight: "Inuyasha, can't you kill Naraku's puppet?" At that moment Inuyasha placed himself in front of Koga to block a few roots sent to hurt his lover. He looked straight ahead and answered Shippo: "Can't ya see I'm already busy?!"

Shippo jumped off, frustrated from the half-demon's harsh answer.

"Inuyasha, on your right!" Koga yelled.

The half-demon cut through another despised root. He looked over at Chikara; he hoped Kagome's injury would close soon.

A roar was heard.

"Kirara!!!" Sango cried.

The cat demon reverted back to her domestic cat size. Sango dashed to retrieve her.

Chikara saw this and concentrated more on her task. Pouring more energy helped to heal the injury, but still, it was too slow for her liking. "Come on, faster. Faster!" she whispered angrily. She looked around and felt anxiety rising. Every one was weary and wanted this battle to finish.

Inuyasha was starting to get angry at the entire situation; he was worried about Koga and Kagome's safety.

Still in front of his lover, he was fighting the invading roots. What he forgot was that roots could come from any direction.

Kagome's bleeding injury finally closed. Chikara sighed; she was weak, but at least, she wouldn't lose more blood.

"Thank you, Chikara" the young woman said, softly. She smiled.

The goddess knew the girl was already recovering her strengths. "Stay calm, and you'll be-"

Chikara didn't have time to finish her short sentence that another cry was heard.

Everyone turned in the source of the sound's direction; it was Koga. He was impaled through the stomach to a tree behind Inuyasha. A root had made itself unnoticeable from Inuyasha's hearing, thus making a surprise attack on the wolf demon.

Chikara was screaming from horror; Inuyasha saw red.

Koga had a horrified expression on his face. Everything started to spin around him. The pain although, was unfelt, as it had happened too quickly for his brain to register what happened.

Inuyasha was in the same situation; he was too stunned to react. Shippo was trying to knock some sense into the dog demon by pulling on his pants' leg.

Kagome yelled through a wearied voice: "Inuyasha, do something!!!" She looked at Chikara: "Quick, you must tend to his wounds" she said.

The half-demon regained a bit of sense.

The goddess nodded and, while Naraku was laughing like the bastard he was, she was fraying angrily her way through a new cohort of roots. She bashed every single one who would dare to be in her way. Her usual happy Sun form was acting more like her cold Moon one.

Inuyasha jumped to the tree and cut the main limb that was pinning his lover to it with Tetsusaiga. He caught the falling demon and brought him gently to the ground. Blood was staining Inuyasha's fire rat coat, but he couldn't care less; Koga was losing too much of the crimson liquid of life. "Please hang on, Koga" the half-demon said angrily. He shot a glance at the large hole in the wolf's stomach. His eyes widened: '_The pup!!!_' How could he have let this happen? He was so mad, he could have split a mountain in two. The half-demon sensed the goddess approaching in a fury. As he looked up, he could almost see the anger surrounding her small body.

As soon as she reached the two canine demons, Chikara immediately was at the pregnant demon's side. She winced at Koga's injury; she would need a lot of time and energy to heal this one.

In Inuyasha's arms, the wolf's breath was laboured.

The dog demon put a shaking hand on her arm, his eyes covered by his bangs: "Take Koga away from here, the fastest you can. Go and hide. Don't turn around once."

Everyone was breathing heavily from stress and exhaustion. Chikara let a single tear glide on her cheek. She nodded, without giving a verbal answer. She breathed deeply, regaining some strength through a surge of adrenaline.

Inuyasha gave carefully the wounded demon to the goddess. She brought her wings in front of her to create a like-shield. She started to run, not looking back. She prayed they would be able to escape.

It seemed Naraku had intended for something else to happen. He shot roots in Chikara and Koga's direction; the limbs were racing toward them.

Chikara saw this and stopped running.

For a second, everyone was puzzled at that move and wanted to make her continue. Inuyasha started to run toward them.

The goddess put her sceptre in front of her and said: "Oh no you don't! Burn!!!" As soon as the roots touched the staff, they burned into ashes. Then, she took a few seconds to take her moon and sun necklace from around her neck to put it around Koga's.

The pendant reacted as soon as it touched the wounded demon. It glowed and at that moment, to everyone's surprise, both the goddess and demon disappeared from sight.

Naraku's puppet stopped the attacks, confused at what happened.

Kagome and Inuyasha took the opportunity to strike. Kagome launched a sacred arrow at the baboon. It hit the heart, weakening it, and then Inuyasha threw a Wind Scar in its direction to complete the attack. The puppet started to disintegrate and soon a wooden statuette fell to the ground, a single demon hair attached to it.

Sango ran to Kagome, to see if the girl was fine.

"I'm okay, just a bit light-headed, that's all" she said, with a small smile. Miroku took the wooden figure in his hand and observed it.

Inuyasha was still fuming and worried, although the battle was finally over.

"What's wrong, Inuyasha?" the young priestess asked.

"Chikara disappeared… but to where?" Miroku asked, destroying the statuette with his remaining strength.

Kagome tried to stand up on shaky legs: "We must find her! Koga was badly wounded… maybe the pup-"

"Don't say this!" Inuyasha cut her. "I'll go. You guys get back inside the hut to recover." He turned to the modern girl: "Don't worry Kagome, I'll be back with them."

The concerned woman nodded, although she wasn't happy with his decision. "Okay, but be careful…promise?"

He put a hand on her shoulder and turned around to run into the forest surrounding them. '_I won't be able to find Chikara because she doesn't have a scent, but Koga has one…_' he thought.

The rest of the gang retreated to the small hut.

Miroku looked at the sky. The sun was now visible with the disappearing miasma that came with Naraku's puppet; it was now shining in the sky. Such a beautiful day for such a horrible event…

* * *

Yup, I'm alive. Sorry for the delay...haven't updated since October I think lol. I'll try to write the next chapter as fast as I can... yeah right pfft. This chapter was hard to write. I tried to make it the most detailed I could so that's why I had a hard time. I don't like much these scenes. 

Have a Happy New Year everyone!!!... and please leave some reviews!


	5. I hate this

Chapter 5 – I hate this

Chikara was running as fast a she could from the battleground. Her breath was uneven, but she didn't care, she held someone much more in need of breath and life than she was. She concentrated on spotting the holes in the ground, so she wouldn't fall.

They were now close to a small water source. She stopped nearby, looking back. They seemed to be far from the battleground. The ageless woman sighed loudly; she was running for what it seemed to be hours.

She swallowed loudly and looked at the demon in her arms; he looked horrible.

Koga clenched his large wound with his hand, hissing from the pain it was sending him. He was afraid for his pup. "M-my baby" he said with a weak shuddering voice.

Tears ran silently on Chikara's cheeks: "Don't worry, sweetie, everything's going to be fine" she tried to reassure the wolf demon. As the words left her mouth, her thoughts were completely the opposite; she prayed he would survive.

Walking near a tree and stopping there, Chikara put Koga down and started to look at his wound. She wiped her tears and bit her lip; the pup –or pups- was probably already dead. She sighed again and started the healing process. She didn't need to worry about being attacked, as with Koga's state, the pendant had created a barrier from everything else, rendering the goddess and the wolf invisible to almost every eyes. That's how they had been able to escape from Naraku.

"Okay, Koga, stay with me, I'm going to heal you… just don't leave me here alone, 'kay?" Inside her mind, she laughed bitterly at the euphemism she had used in her sentence. '_Death will not come for you today, Koga. Don't worry…_' she thought.

The wolf managed a frail smile and nodded. His strength didn't last long as he fainted, his head slowly lolling to one side.

The woman breathed deeply, trying to calm down, to able her powers to bend better against her will. Doing the same as earlier, she elevated her staff in the air, and palm toward the sky, she concentrated to get more energy to heal the wound. "O Sun, please assists me to eliminate the pain that is tenaciously killing this wolf."

She frowned, receiving more energy from the sun above, in the sky. She guided part of her energy to give it to Koga's body.

The wound was closing and slowly, blood started to escape less and less from the gash. Soon it was completely healed. Thankfully, no scar adorned the slightly tanned skin, because it had been healed by holy powers.

Chikara sat down on the cool grass, a sigh escaping her quivering lips. She was tired, but happy. "It's over, at last." She brought her hand to pet Koga's hair, smiling.

The wolf demon breathed deeply in his recovery sleep, as to agree with the goddess beside him.

The sun high in the sky, Chikara finally heard the birds singing, since her mind had been preoccupied by the demon next to her. The shield that was rendering them invisible earlier started to fade, now that the bearer of Chikara's pendant was in a safer state.

Her smile slowly dropped; she could feel the next event was going to be much more dreadful.

°°°

Inuyasha was so troubled that he hadn't felt that Kirara and Kagome had been secretly following him.

He was searching blindingly in the forest around the hut; he was starting to panic as he couldn't even fin Koga's scent anywhere in the region. '_What if they are really somewhere he couldn't find? No. Chikara couldn't have gotten really far with Koga injured in her arms…_' He tried to regain a somewhat calm composure to help him locate the two missing.

He stopped running; closing his eyes, he tried to detect the faintest hint of his mate's scent.

The young maiden and the cat demon stopped dead in their tracks; good thing the wind wasn't in their back or else Inuyasha would have smelt them.

A few minutes later, his unusual patience rewarded him and he was able to find which direction to go; the protecting sphere had been released.

°°°

Chikara was patiently untangling Koga's midnight black hair with her slender fingers, trying to calm her own nerves. She started singing something soft, while observing around to see if she would see Inuyasha coming.

A few minutes passed until the awaited half-demon showed himself.

"Chikara!" he called.

She shushed him immediately: "Stop, you'll wake Koga."

Kagome and Kirara settled in some bushes to spy on the three individuals. "Oh, Kirara, I wonder how is Koga…" the maiden said softly.

Once the dog demon settled down beside the wolf on the ground, he instantly put a hand to his lover's expanded belly. "Is it…okay?"

She shook her head; sad to be the one to announce the heartbreaking news. "The hole… it was too… deep and large. I…" saying those words had a hard time getting out of her narrowing throat. Emotions were getting the best of her; she could hardly keep the tears inside. "I think it died on the spot… when Naraku plunged his-"

"Enough!" Inuyasha snapped. He didn't want more mental pictures of what happened; he _was_ there to observe the incident. He gritted his teeth together: "I understand" he said, more softly.

The goddess brought a hand to her heart and looked aside; she tried to cover her tears by hiding them with her bangs: "I'm sorry Inuyasha… I couldn't save your pup."

The half-demon closed his fist and punched the ground. '_Damn!_' was the only thing going through his mind. He sighed deeply and looked at Chikara; the poor woman took all the blame and _he_ felt guilty for it, because _he_ had been the one protecting the wolf demon at that moment. Chikara had been busy healing Kagome during that moment. '_And I was the one who had sent her to Kagome…_' he thought.

Inuyasha opened his mouth, searching for words: "Look, ahh… no, it's your fault. You did what you had to do; you healed Kagome." He looked down to Koga and stroke his cheek, but still talking to her, he said: "Please stop crying… it… feels like someone is stabbing me each time you cry…" he made a sad smile "and it hurts."

He looked up and put a hand on her arm: "You did save Koga and _that_ is the most important thing right now." He searched for her eyes, trying to comfort her.

She slowly turned her face to look at the dog demon.

He could never have predicted what she was about to answer: "How can you be so serene about all this, INUYASHA!? Can't you see!? _I _am a goddess damn it all! _I_ am supposed to be able to protect everyone! From the unborn to the dead! _I_ am a failure!" Her teeth clenched together, her face was red from the emotions. She shook her fist and hit her lap angrily. "_**I hate this!**_"

Inuyasha then acted without thinking, and he slapped her, just enough to bring her back to reality.

From afar Kagome tried to hold back the 'sit' word in order to punish him. Kirara mewled, reminding the modern priestess that they were supposed to be hiding. "I know! I know! But…" she whispered harshly to the cat demon.

Time stopped for a second; Inuyasha wondered if he had done the right thing.

Spilt tears started to dry as everyone came back to senses.

Chikara got hold of her emotions. Her blue eyes stared into gold ones: "I… am sorry, Inuyasha. Thank you." She sniffed. "I think I was losing control of my emotions." She closed her eyes. Still shaking from her outburst, she tried to breath deeply to calm down.

The half-demon apologised: "I didn't know how to react. I mean, I never saw you like this. Normally you cry, but just now, you were frightening. I had to do something." He felt uneasy about having hit someone he had great respect for.

The goddess chuckled: "Well, as you can see, it worked." She brought her hands to her face, and rubbed her face to get rid of the last tears that had made way on her cheeks.

A silence had installed itself between the two persons as Koga was slowly opening his eyes.

"Koga!" Inuyasha quickly said, already fretting over the other.

Kagome was surprised as the small group was reacting to something. "Too bad I can't get closer, I can't hear what they are saying" she said to Kirara. When she saw Koga moving a bit, she concluded that he was awake.

"So, how do you feel, Koga?" the goddess asked gently.

The pregnant demon answered with a groan. "Meh…" he brought a hand to his face, rubbing it to get rid of the sleep left.

"Hm. I guess that you're not feeling _that _bad," Chikara said, with a small smile.

'_She's acting strangely_' Inuyasha thought.

The ageless woman checked again through tattered clothes to see if there was any small injury left. "Your body is still coping with the attack, even though the wound has been healed completely."

Inuyasha felt odd, as though something was going to happen next. He knew Chikara was hiding something. She didn't look completely reassured; her bout of anger was probably caused by this mystery 'thing'.

The dog demon looked directly into the goddess' eyes. "Tell me, woman, is everything over?" His eyebrow raised high, showing his intent of discovering the truth.

She smiled uneasily: "Inuyasha, dear, what are you talking about? Can't you be more precise?"

Koga propped himself on his elbows and frowned: "What is wrong, mutt?"

The half-demon ignored Koga and spat his answer: "Tell what is going on with Koga! You said the pup was dead. What's next?"

Chikara's lips formed a straight line. Her eyes were cold as she answered him with a voice bare of emotions: "He is going to have a miscarriage, because the body will reject the dead foetus. There. Are you happy now?!" Anger was coming back, full strength.

It was like Koga had received a full blow in the face; his heart skipped a beat: "WHAT!?" he grabbed the front of Chikara's kimono and drew her close. "My baby is… dead?" he said, barely whispering the last word.

She looked at him with the same cold eyes she had used to say her last sentence: "Yes, I'm sorry."

Koga let go of her kimono to fall back on the ground; his head hit the ground, but he didn't feel it. The truth was hurting him more.

Inuyasha was afraid Koga would react badly, so he tried to prepare the young wolf demon: "You know Koga, the pup died on the spot because of the attack… Don't worry, everything will be fine" he said.

The prince shook his head: "No… IT WON'T BE FINE!" He started to cry silently and it almost broke Inuyasha's heart to see his lover crying.

Chikara was fixing a random spot in the forest, when she felt Kagome and Kirara's auras. "Come out you two, don't try to hide!" She said sternly.

The young woman and the cat demon came out of their hiding. When they approached, they saw how Koga was distraught. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spy… I simply wanted to see how Koga was…"

Inuyasha barked: "I told you to go back to camp! Why didn't you listen to me?! A demon could have attacked you!"

Kagome was hurt by Inuyasha's comment: "Yeah, well I am not alone you know!"

"Stop yelling you two!" Chikara quickly interrupted them. "Kagome, might as well be useful and fetch me some wood. Kirara go with her." When the two females didn't budge, she rushed them: "Now go! I am not in a mood to be joking around."

While the two hurried away, Koga asked: "Chikara… please tell me, what is going to happen next?"

Feeling the sadness in his voice, the goddess tried to soften her look a bit: "I don't really know. I saw human women having miscarriage, but I have no idea how it works with male demons. Normally women that experience miscarriage feel cramps, from small to intense and then… there is heavy bleeding as the body empties the dead foetus." She looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, I think I have been a bit harsh with you… It's just that, my emotions are all mixed up right now", she added, putting a hand over her eyes.

Koga took her hand in his to reassure her: "It's okay. I… I think I understand how you feel. Do you know how long it will take to… happen?" He couldn't bring himself to say the word aloud.

"It could take a few minutes to a few hours. We can do nothing but wait."

Inuyasha spoke up, determined to act courageously, knowing that what Koga will go through will be a tough trial: "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"When they will be back, make a fire, it's a bit cold; it will be easier to wait while warm."

°°°

"I wonder what will happen to Koga…" Kagome said, looking at the sky.

Kirara mewled.

The girl sighed. "Haven't you noticed that he and Inuyasha are acting weird?"

The cat demon swished her tails.

"Yeah, I thought so…"

They continued to pick up wood that Chikara had asked for fire.

°°°

Inuyasha's foot was tapping on the ground. He was tired of waiting, but at the same time, he didn't want 'it' to happen at all. He looked at the wolf beside him, as anxious as him.

"Mutt, stop that. It's getting on my nerves" the prince said.

Chikara sighed. "I know it's hard to wait, but…" she didn't know what to say. Her thoughts were all mixed up in her head and a strong headache was beating her skull… _hard_. Closing her eyes, she heard Kagome and Kirara arriving, dropping the wood near the sitting group.

"Well, here you go, Chikara…" the modern priestess said, "and I'm sorry I followed you, Inuyasha, I know I shouldn't have." She made a sad smile, knowing she did wrong.

The dog demon nodded, seeing she was truly sorry. He forced himself to smile back, but everyone could see that it was filled with worry for Koga.

Chikara silently got up and put her hands on Kagome's shoulders. "Now listen to me, dear. I want you to go back to camp. Tell the others that you found us and that we are okay."

Kagome nodded, reluctantly. "But-"

"Not 'buts' young lady. You disobeyed once; I don't want it to happen again. Reassure Miroku, Sango and Shippo that we will be back as soon as we are finished here."

Kagome looked puzzled. "What is left to do?"

The three others looked rather grim to say it aloud. Koga finally gathered enough courage to tell the young woman: "Kagome, come here." She did as asked. "I want you to know that my baby is dead. My body will…" his heart pinched at the next words, "reject this pup."

Kagome's eyes began to fill up with tears: "No! It can't be! I'm sorry, it's all my f-"

"Don't!" He encircled her wrist with his hand: "It's not you fault, and neither is Chikara's, Inuyasha's… or anyone else's but mine." He released her, fearing it might have scared her. "I shouldn't have brought this upon you guys at all-"

Inuyasha immediately brought his hand on Koga's shoulder with a none-too-gentle glare that told him to shut up.

Closing her eyes, Kagome sighed. She opened them to look at Koga: "Fine, I'll go…" Addressing to the other two, she said: "Take care of him, please."

And so, Kagome and Kirara walked away to join the others at the small hut they had been in earlier that day.

Inuyasha brought the wood in a small heap. Then, when he was about to find large rocks to start the fire, Chikara simply brought her staff to touch one of the twigs and said: "Burn!" She had used the same thing during the battle, and as before, it had the same effect. The fire was now heating the surroundings.

Koga was surprised. "Why don't you use this in battle?"

"I am the goddess of the Sun, which in its own way can burn, but it is nothing compared to real fire spells. It also takes some of my precious energy, and since I am better at healing and defending than attacking, I keep it for those two purpose" she said simply.

She could feel uneasiness in the prince's movements.

Inuyasha had felt it too, because he frowned before asking: "Are you okay?"

Koga didn't know to answer. For the last minute, his whole body was somewhat telling him something. As soon as he felt a cramp, he knew what was happening: "Guys, I think it's time…" he said, tears ready to be released. Those cramps were the signs that it was real; after all this, he wouldn't be pregnant anymore. '_I wasn't be able to give Inuyasha what he wanted_.' He growled when another cramp came, this time a bit harder. "Stupid piece of sh-"

"Koga!" Chikara scolded him. Her mouth became a straight line: "Okay, let's get ready. I assume that there would be a birth channel that resembles a female's, but… where?" The most seriously possible, she asked Koga to take off his clothes and Inuyasha to take his fire-rat coat to hide Koga's intimate parts.

"WHAT!?" both demons said in unison. Koga hissed because another cramp, again fiercer than the last ones, hit it.

"Honestly Koga, how am I supposed to keep track of the situation if I can't see what's happening because your clothes are covering everything…"

The prince looked at the dog demon and blushed. Inuyasha asked quickly: "But why are you covering his lower parts?" he coughed. '_It ain't nothing I haven't seen yet…_' he finished for himself.

'_I heard that, brat._' Chikara said telepathically, which made Inuyasha blush madly. She sighed: "Because that's what I asked you to do. What are you two waiting for? Move!"

The demons did as asked, not wanting to angry the goddess. Inuyasha took off his haori and put it on Koga's lower body. Then he sat behind him to support him. Koga loosened his clothes to get out of them, but kept his loose shirt on, since it was chilly in the forest, even with a small fire beside them.

Chikara surprised Koga when she pulled to see under the fire rat coat. One of her main reason to cover Koga was that she didn't want him to see, in case he'd panic by what was going on. She could detect, even without a keen sense of smell like demons, the scent of blood. She looked at the source; there was a thin line that was opening near his pubic hair, between his navel and penis. She was a bit startled by this, as she had thought that the opening would happen between his anus and sex, like females. '_Oh well, at least we won' t have to cut him open…_'

Chikara tried to keep her face straight, but it was a difficult task for her.

°°°

It had been a rather short event, but painful on the psychological side.

A lot had been spilt, but not only from Koga's part. Chikara was inconsolable.

Inuyasha was trying to stay strong for the two, but he felt the same as them. As he finished filling the small hole that was the grave of the foetuses, a few tears escaped; he held the others back, because he didn't wanted anyone to see him weak like that. He looked back at where the two were. He noticed Koga wasn't moving. He approached his lover silently.

'_He's exhausted_' the goddess said, mentally, to the dog demon.

Inuyasha fell to his knees beside her, but didn't say anything as his face was full of anger.

Chikara thought at first that he was mad at Koga, but when she saw tears on his cheek, she knew that he was actually ashamed of himself. She gently guided him toward her and put her arms around his strong body. His face fell on her shoulders, where he cried silently. She combed his long hair and started to sing the lullaby that she usually sang to her son. Her heart clenched and right now she wanted to see and hold her own child after what had just happened. '_Don't worry Inuyasha, time will heal the wounds'_ she told the dog demon.

The said male sighed and dried his tears. "Let's go back to the camp. Koga needs to be in a safe place and here we are opened to attacks." He gently put the wolf demon on his back with the aid of Chikara.

As they were ready to go, the goddess turned to the other: "You know what Inuyasha? I pray for the second time today…" she held the dog's hand in her own. "But this time I pray the gods that your children will have a happy afterlife."

He didn't asked what had been the reason for the first time, because he knew he didn't want an answer.

* * *

I'm sorry it took so long to update, but... it seemed at first that I was simply being too lazy to write... but I noticed that I simply didn't want to write this cruel chapter... poor Koga. I don't know if you noticed, but in general, I don't like 'happy endings' too much. He he please review, I'd love to hear from you guys (and what you have to say about this chapter in general). Have a nice day! 


	6. It isn't fair

**Chapter ****6 – It isn't fair**

It was now late in the afternoon.

Ever since Inuyasha and Chikara had brought back Koga to camp, a sad atmosphere was permeating everyone's mood.

Miroku and Sango went to get more wood to keep their camp warm; it was the only excuse they had thought of to get away from the thick depressing mood.

Kagome was poking at the fire with a stick, still a bit sad herself, but happy to see that Koga was still with them; in history classes at school, she had learned that many women died in childbirth and miscarriages in the Feudal period. She rubbed her hands together to warm them. Glancing at the hut no more than thirty feet away, she wondered what Inuyasha was thinking.

The said dog demon was sitting beside a still recovering Koga and the goddess of Sun and Moon. Chikara was putting the wolf into a forced sleep, so his body would cope more rapidly with the loss of the foetuses… yes, foetuses, as in 'more than one'.

Inuyasha wiped a single tear. '_I would have had two little boys…_' he repeated to himself. Even though they would have been half-demons since they had been conceived the night of the new moon, Inuyasha knew they would have grown to become handsome demons.

Sighing, he approached his lover futon to adjust his covers; Chikara looked at her brother in law, whom she considered like a son, and hugged him tightly. He looked at her, but said nothing, as she got up and walked out of the small abandoned house.

No words had been exchanged; the pain was too difficult to bear for either of them.

°°°

While she crossed the camp, Chikara seemed to be empty of any emotions.

Kagome looked up from the fire to the goddess and, seeing that she didn't acknowledge her, she got up herself to follow the other.

The ageless woman was too preoccupied to even realize that Kagome was following her. Her pace was rather slow, but after fifteen minutes, she finally settled down… although, 'letting herself drop on the ground' would be more appropriated. Her entire body started to shake, which made the young priestess panic.

Kagome was about to go and help the woman, when suddenly she felt a strong demonic aura. She tried to grab her bow and arrow, but she had left them back at camp. '_Stupid!!! How can I be so forgetful and not bring my only weapon?!_' she thought. She bit her lip; maybe she should get the others at the camp to help Chikara…

But she didn't need to get further into her thoughts, as the demon was Sesshoumaru. The second he was beside the goddess, she latched herself onto his chest and started to cry loudly, which scared off some birds in the woods.

Much to the young priestess' surprise, the demon lord gently shifted her to his left shoulder, where there were no armour spikes that could hurt her. He then started to gently pet his wife's blond hair with his right hand. He also whispered something into the goddess' ear, but Kagome hadn't been able to hear it because of the distance separating her from the couple.

"What happened? I smelt Naraku's blood and came immediately here, only to find you alone" he stated calmly.

"I- We- were attacked… by Naraku and- and… Koga-got-wounded-and-his-pups-died!" she cried hysterically. "_**It's not fair**_ Sesshoumaru!!!"

She clutched his sleeve tightly; he tried to understand Chikara's fragmented speech, before finally understanding: "My love. There's no need to cry all the tears of your body. I assume he survived, yes?"

She nodded.

The couple was not whispering anymore, so Kagome was then able to grasp the conversation.

The goddess sighed loudly: "Oh Sesshoumaru… Koga lost an important part of himself: his babies died before he even got to know them. He had to go through what no _sane_ mother-to-be would want to go through…" Chikara covered her own mouth to refrain herself from continuing her sentence.

Sesshoumaru's hand left the long blond hair to touch Chikara's own, motioning to continue and then got back to petting her hair. Although the move had been gentle, his face was emotionless.

"…I had feared this would happen to me when I was pregnant with our son. I was so stupid; travelling alone, I didn't know what the next day held for me." She slowly stopped to cry, now only shaking. "I was scared to death. I guess though, that Koga has been through something worse…" she admitted.

Something seemed off about Chikara's behaviour and Sesshoumaru knew there was something more than simply Koga's miscarriage.

As he was thinking silently, the Sun was slowly setting as the Moon was rising. It was getting dark and Chikara was gradually transforming into her night form. Curly jet black hair was now covering Sesshoumaru's hand instead of golden.

He intended to learn what was bugging his wife, so he carefully asked, trying to not upset her: "Dear, I sense you are far more troubled about this whole incident than you are letting us see. You look haggard. You know how it hurts me to see you crying…"

He didn't need to finish his sentence that Chikara of the Moon was standing and turning her back to him: "First of all, you know how I hate to be _petted_ like that, Sesshoumaru."

Kagome was surprised by the change of her friend's mood. She had never really seen such difference in her two personalities.

The lord immediately repaired his error: "Yes, dear, I know. I am sorry, but you seemed so shaken I didn't know what to do." His tone was neither joyous nor angry.

Chikara seemed satisfied with that, so she continued: "Secondly, I still can't understand how you are able to read me like this… it is almost frustrating." She sighed while tapping her foot on the ground. "But you are right, my dear. I do hide something."

"Then do tell, maybe it will ease the pain" the dog demon said. Asking her to sit down, he restrained himself this time to stroke her hair. Sometimes he wondered why she was so different from her day form.

Chikara sat down and prepared herself to tell her worries. She seemed to hesitate at first, but she finally complied. "It is my entire fault… Koga and Inuyasha's relationship was disapproved by the Gods from the moment they kissed."

Kagome, from her hiding place, gasped. '_Inuyasha is the mate that abandoned Koga?! __Wait… __**HE**__ is Koga's mate?!_' Thoughts swirled in Kagome's mind. She thought that he loved Kikyo… at least she had a chance… '_but against Koga? How can I compete against that?_' She started to feel a pain in her chest. Sadness, anger and other different emotions were attacking her from every side. Kagome suddenly felt darkness enveloping her. She welcomed it, hoping it was going to ease her pain.

A thud, not far from them, was heard by the royal couple. Sesshoumaru got up to fetch the young priestess; he had known she had been there from the start, but he didn't think she would faint. He put her beside his mate: "I guess the news were too harsh in her taste" he said mockingly. Humans… so weak.

Chikara sent a glare at her husband for his insensitivity toward Kagome… although, he was right; the shock had been too great for her.

Sesshoumaru evaded the menacing looks of his wife by continuing the conversation: "But why would the Gods disapprove? There is nothing wrong with their relationship, no?" Sesshoumaru asked, curious to see why. He doubted it was because Inuyasha was a half-demon… or the fact that he was still part of the Royal family of the Western Lands.

The goddess sighed. She looked at Kagome, pushed a strand of hair from the girl's 'sleeping' face and said: "I don't think they were against it, but they did say that because it was Inuyasha's destiny to kill Naraku, he had no time to lose on a mate and pups… meaning that Inuyasha and Koga didn't have their blessings." She paused, feeling the tears gathering in her eyes. She looked away, not wanting Sesshoumaru to see her tears; she was way too proud for that. "I tried to change their mind about it… but it was majority against me."

"You mean that you knew about what would happen today?" the lord asked, puzzled at his mate's mysterious behaviour; she looked very remorseful. It would surprise him that she wouldn't prevent such a situation if she had been informed beforehand.

"NO! Of course not!" she yelled angrily. She faced him again: "I would have done something if I had known that this was to happen today" she clarified, regaining her composure. "They simply said that they would 'correct' the situation. I never thought it would be _this_ drastic." She sighed: "It's so unfair; those two didn't deserve this punishment. The Gods could have simply separated them…"

Sesshoumaru didn't agree on this: "As I know Inuyasha, he is so stubborn that he would have tried to find where his mate was."

Chikara sadly nodded; that was probably what would have happened… after all, Inuyasha _is_ Inuyasha.

Trying to cheer up his wife, Sesshoumaru said: "There's nothing more you can do… they will now need support to pass through this rough trial." He sighed: "And if it can ease your worries, you should know that a male bearer needs to take a lot of weight in order to insure a stable pregnancy; demons, especially males, don't have much fat on their bodies. Koga was probably very thin since he didn't have his mate to provide him what he needed. Am I right?" he asked.

"Yes, you are right... The moment I saw him, his thinness took me by surprise." Slightly shaking her head, Chikara looked down at Kagome beside her and said: "I should get back to camp. The others are probably worried about me." She got up and tried to pick up Kagome, but her strength failed her; she had used to much energy with the battle earlier and needed to recover. With an annoyed look on her face, she reluctantly asked Sesshoumaru to take the young priestess: "It's only a temporary fatigue…" she had said as an excuse.

The lord knew better than to mock her when she was asking for help, so he did as asked.

°°°

Sango and Miroku had been waiting impatiently to see if the two women would come back soon, as night had fallen a few hours ago. Shippo had fallen asleep, spent from the day's commotion. They were happy to see that he wasn't affect as much by Koga's miscarriage as they were.

The two young adults were ready to go out in the forest to find their friends when the goddess arrived with her husband and a still unconscious Kagome.

The monk and the demon slayer were surprised and were about to attack the demon Lord when Chikara raised her hand to stop them. They noticed she wasn't in a good mood and abstained themselves from arguing.

Chikara searched through Kagome's things to find the girl's sleeping bag. She then settled it on the ground and motioned Sesshoumaru to put the fainted priestess in it. The lord did as asked, even though no words had been spoken. She then brought Shippo's sleeping form beside Kagome, so he could continue to sleep peacefully.

The woman then turned to face Sango and Miroku and told them that she was going to see Koga and Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru followed her in the hut.

"This is weird" Sango whispered to Miroku, not knowing the demon lord could very well hear them.

"I know. It's rare to see Sesshoumaru not attacking us or Inuyasha…" the monk answered. "He even seems sad…" he mused.

Sango scoffed: "You think so?"

Sesshoumaru pretended to ignore this, as he knew picking up a fight would bring anger to his mate and she had enough to trouble her mind, she didn't need more. As he entered the hut, he immediately felt the air tense, as Inuyasha was glaring at him, from his seat on the floor. The lord knew his brother didn't want him around, but he was being polite by offering his apologies for the loss of the pups.

"So, he hasn't woken up yet?" Chikara asked, unaware of her surroundings. She checked his pulse, not really waiting for the evident answer. She sighed and looked at her brother-in-law: "Inuyasha, even though Koga is physically in shape to continue to fight… his mind is probably not. I will still bring him to the castle with me."

Inuyasha got up to reply, but then Sesshoumaru did something unexpected; he approached Inuyasha and put his arms gently around the half-demon. "I am sorry for the loss of your sons" he simply said, without any warmth or coldness in it.

Confusion was written all over the half-demon's face. Inuyasha pushed his brother to break the fragile embrace that was linking them together. "What the hell?! What's wrong with you?! Why are you acting like we're close? Get lost!"

Chikara was about to reply harshly when Sesshoumaru stopped her.

"Here I am, Inuyasha, bringing some sympathy for the loss of your pups, and _you_ are threatening me?" the lord asked, insulted. He turned around and left the hut.

Chikara's red eyes glared at Inuyasha and she left without saying a thing. Although she wanted to rebuke him, she knew it would have more effect on Inuyasha if she didn't tell him what he had done wrong; it was almost positive that he would come to apologize later, after realising his error.

"Sesshoumaru! Wait!" she whispered harshly, not to wake Kagome.

Walking quickly to join her husband, she noticed he was angry. "Oh please, don't tell me that what Inuyasha said upset you…" she said, rolling her eyes. The lord only frowned, but she knew what his answer was. "You know, your brother is going through something difficult, and all of the sudden, you show him some sympathy. Even though he doesn't want to show it, it's too much for him to handle…" She hugged his only arm: "although I admit it was cute to see you giving your brother a hug" she smirked. She guided him away from the camp. Closing the distance between herself and a tree, she declared: "Let's sleep here tonight, so tomorrow we can bring back Koga to the castle."

He sat beside her, his back against the tree: "What do you mean 'we'? I have other things to attend to" he said, calmly. She snuggled closer to him, so he added: "But I guess… I could need a small trip to the castle myself…" Chikara laughed; she knew he couldn't have resisted for long. He raised an eyebrow and continued: "… simply to assure myself that everything is still in order and also to … see my son."

The last sentence made the goddess smile and before closing her eyes, she kissed him gently on the lips as a thank you.

"Aren't you going to be cold in this weather?" he asked.

"No… are you forgetting who you are talking to? I'm a goddess. As long as I have energy left, I won't freeze…" she answered, half-asleep.

°°°

In the hut, not far from them, a half-demon and a wolf demon were lying on the ground, side by side. They didn't touch; one of them was still sleeping and the other awake.

Inuyasha lying on his side, petting his lover's hair while humming quietly.

The wolf woke up slowly, feeling someone playing with his black hair. Only his head moved to look at the other demon beside him.

"Hi" was the half-demon's simple greeting. His smile was uneasy but genuine for the other male.

Koga answered with some mumbling. His mind was all fuzzy; he wasn't sure of where he was and if it all really had happened, so he asked. Inuyasha's answer had hit him like a ton of brick on the chest. He didn't want to see the dog demon at the moment; he wanted to be alone and escape this feeling of shame. When he looked up directly in Inuyasha's eyes, though, he felt that the other wasn't rejecting him. "Why are you reacting like this, Inuyasha?" The silver haired demon's confused look incited the wolf to continue: "I just dishonoured you by losing your children in a miscarriage and you react like nothing happened!" he said, with a trembling voice.

A short verbal fight ensued, but it quickly ended as Sango came to put an end to it; all the yelling could wake up Kagome and Shippo.

That night, no one really slept well.

* * *

Dedicated to my dear **InuyashaHoujo**, since he/she likes my stories so much (especially Chikara)! Love you! **(by the way, that was sarcastic. If you don't get it, see his/her review and you'll understand).**

**  
**Okay, so this one took a while to update 'cause I got to tell ya, I've lost all interest in this story... and in Inuyasha in general. SO there is one half-chapter left, explaining the morning after the battle and that's it. **But** if you guys want to, I could continue it to complete the chapter with Chikara going to explain Koga's situation back at Koga's den (and eventually a bit of verbal fight lol). So it's up to you guys: want me to post my original ending, or the new one? Cause I don't really care...

Please review to tell me your answer:)**  
**


	7. Will you

**Note**: If you don't like Chikara much, don't read the epilogue, it won't interest you much...

* * *

**Chapter****7 – Will you…**

It was now morning. The aftermath of the battle had changed every member of the gang in different ways. Sango and Miroku had gotten a little closer, Shippo was trying to cheer everyone up, Kagome was beyond sad; she even looked traumatized in the other's eyes. And the last two were Inuyasha and Koga. The wolf demon had gotten silent, Inuyasha was the complete opposite. The half-demon was trying to provoke the prince into talking. Insults and aggressive remarks were part of the deal. Surprisingly enough, Koga seemed elsewhere, as all of this would have normally provoked a battle between the two canine demons.

While everyone was finishing packing their belongings, Chikara and Sesshoumaru came from where they had slept in the forest.

Everyone was silent, as if it was a member of their own family who had died. The gang could see how much it had affected the goddess; she seemed worn. The Lord of the Western Lands seemed unfazed, but Chikara could feel that he was there to support her, his hand on her small back.

"Today, I will bring you back to the castle with me, Koga. I am giving you asylum for your recovery. You won't have to fear of being attacked by Naraku there" Chikara said, breaking the silence. She waited for Inuyasha's brash response… and she got it.

"Are you insane, old lady!? He is in no condition of travelling!" was his simple reply.

She didn't react to his aggressiveness, like she would have normally done; the current situation was everything _but_ normal. "That is exactly why he must come to the castle, for his recovery." Her face was cold, the same Sesshoumaru always wore.

Inuyasha was perplexed. He looked at his brother, who nodded to agree with his wife.

Kagome spoke up, much to everyone's surprise. "You know she is right, Inuyasha. Koga just went through a great shock by losing his children!"

Again, Inuyasha was lost. He couldn't believe that everyone was ganging against him. "But… you don't understand! Koga's a demon. He doesn't need you to be babying him. Plus, he should be getting back to his own pack! They'll start to wonder what's happening with him." He thought he had won his point with that.

"Actually I am going to take care of that issue… personally" Chikara immediately pointed out.

Kagome huffed: "Inuyasha, don't you understand it's the best for Koga?!" She tried not to let it show that she knew about their relationship.

Shippo jumped on Sango's shoulder. "Why are they talking as if Koga wasn't there?" he asked her. She immediately shrugged.

Miroku, who was near, answered. "It's probably because Koga hasn't said a single word since we woke up."

Kagome who was seeing that the argument with Inuyasha will never finish, she decided to announce to the rest of the gang that she was going back home for the week-end. "A nice hot bath and a good night of sleep are two things I haven't had in a long time…"

Chikara instantly felt Kagome's distress message. She approached the young priestess and gave her a light hug. "I'm sorry" she whispered into her ear.

Kagome felt the tears coming, so she decided that it was better to go now.

Miroku felt like it was his cue to insert something to break the tension between Kagome and Inuyasha. "Well, then, Inuyasha… are you ready to go?"

"No" was his short reply. "Go ahead and I'll join you as soon as I'm finished talking with Chikara."

Sango was about to say something, when she was stopped by Miroku: "Very well… but hurry up."

Inuyasha nodded and Kirara transformed to finally hop in the air with Miroku, Sango, Shippo and a sad Kagome on her back. The cold air or late autumn was hitting them full force, and it helped to dry the young priestess' tears.

Inuyasha watched the group fade in the horizon, oblivious to Kagome's feelings. However, Chikara knew it wasn't her place to inform Inuyasha that the modern adolescent knew about his relationship with the wolf prince.

The half-demon faced the goddess once again, to try to fight for Koga's liberty. "You know he won't be happy confined in that fuckin' castle! Why do you insist that he goes with you?"

Chikara was now starting to demonstrate the same anger Inuyasha was showering her with: "You don't understand Inuyasha! It's for his health and his safety!" She breathed in: "If you can't see that, then you do not deserve being with Koga!" and immediately regretted saying it as soon as it left her mouth.

Those words fell like rocks in the half-demon's stomach. He didn't know what to say; he admitted that he didn't know if he _loved_ the wolf demon, but he cared for him. Inuyasha didn't know what emotion was now hitting full-force: sadness or anger? Or was it guilt? The answer was vague, but he knew one thing: if he was confused, he couldn't let Sesshoumaru see this. He turned around to hide his face.

"Chikara, I _know_ I feel something for Koga."

"Then why won't you let me bring him to the castle, where healers will be able to help him?" she asked softly; she knew Inuyasha was simply confused.

"I… ugh… don't know." The half-demon looked at Koga and approached him.

The wolf prince locked eyes with Inuyasha, but said nothing.

"Is this what you truly wish, Koga?" Inuyasha asked. He received no response. Sad, he turned to face Chikara: "Then, I guess I'll be going…"

He returned his attention to his lover and bent a bit forward: "_**Will you…**_ kiss me goodbye?"

But the said lover turned his head and stepped back. "Goodbye, Inuyasha. Have a safe journey back" he said, with a weird look; he almost looked afraid.

Everyone present was taken aback by Koga's reaction.

"… Goodbye yourself… _Koga_" was Inuyasha's last comment before running away, letting a single tear be a hint that his heart had been once more broken by a person he loved.

Chikara watched as Inuyasha's form was slowly retreating through the thick forest, following the path the others had taken that morning. "He's…" she sighed. '_Poor thing_' she thought. Shaking her head, she flashed a fake smile at the two demons that were nearby. "So let's get going."

Sesshoumaru nodded and transformed into his demon form.

**Epilogue ****– Clean up the mess**

Sesshoumaru put his paws on the paved ground and crouched so Chikara and Koga could hop off. The lord transformed back, but not without making a growl of discontentment; lords aren't supposed to be used for transportation. However, with a glare from his mate, he calmed and entered the castle without further comment.

Chikara chuckled and led Koga to one of the guest rooms that had been already prepared, since he was to be coming anyways because of his pregnancy.

"Now I want you to lie down and relax. I'll go fetch a servant to bring us tea."

The wolf demon slowly nodded and did as told.

Getting out of the room, Chikara slid the door close reluctantly. What if Koga did something and no one heard? He seemed in such a strange mood that she wasn't sure what to decide. She wanted to make special tea for Koga and she wanted to be the one to prepare it, but that meant leaving him alone…

Half and hour later, Chikara came back. She dismissed the servant that had been entertaining Koga, '_or more like babysitting him_' she thought.

The goddess tried small talk with Koga, but he would rarely say more than a few words at a time. The more she tried to talk to him, the more he was falling asleep.

'_Good, now I'll reinforce the tea-induced sleep with my powers._' She took her sceptre and chanted a few words before assuring herself that Koga wouldn't wake up and she left the room; sending a message to Sesshoumaru through a nearby servant, she told him that she was going to the wolf demon's den for small impromptu meeting with his tribe and she took off into the clear early winter day.

°°°

She landed near the den and not at the entrance so she wouldn't appear as a menace for the wolf demons. Retracting her wings into her back, she put back on her outer kimono.

As she walked toward the said entrance, Chikara was stopped by two none-too-gently looking wolf demons of the tribe on guarding duty.

"What are you doing here?!" one of them said.

The goddess analyzed her interceptors: they were fairly young and their surprise could be felt in the question that had been asked. She raised her brow at the lack of politeness they had and simply answered: "I came here to talk with the elders of this tribe." With that, she thought they would let her pass, but_no_, they had to be _difficult_ about it.

"What makes you think that we'll let _you_ enter?"

Not one to be denied anything, her anger was slowly getting roused by their second question. "I have news about Koga." She smirked; that ought to do the trick.

Their reaction was sure priceless, but it didn't have the effect she expected. The wolf that had first asked her a question was back with his brash attitude that irked the ageless woman: "Yeah, well who the hell are _you_? You seem too… eager to enter the caves!" he yelled at Chikara.

She was about to reply a bit less politely herself, when another wolf demon, this one older than the two present, joined the group. "What are you yelling for? We can hear you guys from inside the caves."

Chikara turned to face the newcomer, hoping he would be nice enough to let her inside the den. "I want to see your elders, I have information about Koga… and could it please be before tomorrow… I have other _matters_ to attend." She sighed, wishing that he would give an affirmative response so she could get this over with.

The newcomer looked at her for a while, which unnerved her to no end; she was no object. Nervously playing with her golden hair, she looked carefully as his expression changed quickly from ignorance to surprise to finally end with a frightened one: "Oh my!!!" he gasped. "Y-you're the –the Sun and Moon goddess!!!" He immediately dropped to the ground and bowed to the woman. "I'm so sorry! Please forgive me your holiness."

While the other two demons were baffled at their demon kin's actions, Chikara was rolling her eyes and shaking her head. She liked receiving a certain level respect –like anyone else- but this _bowing_ was simply _ridiculous_. As she ushered the wolf on the ground to get back up, the two guards finally caught what he meant; the (half-sun, half-moon) sceptre, the general high social clothing and that demanding attitude. It was all screaming 'important person here!'

"So, am I allowed into the dens? Or will I have to fight my way in?" she sighed.

"Y-yes your holiness! Right away, please follow me." The eldest was about to get going when he looked in the two guards' way: "And you two will be punished for what you've said to the great Goddess Chikara!"

The wolf guards froze on the spot at the mention of punishment. They gulped and returned to their function.

°°°

After a few hours, she was able to assemble a great part of the tribe. However the ones whom she deemed more important were all there: the elders. _They_ were the ones who could significantly influence important decisions.

Bringing an almost silence to the crowd, she started to explain who she was and the reason of her presence. No one spoke, as it seemed they were afraid of her wrath; it seemed that most of the time, nothing good came from a god's wrath. She informed them about the gang and where were they at the moment, chasing the Shikon jewel shards. Slowly but surely, she came to the battle which took place a few months before and at last the mating between Koga and Inuyasha… and the result of that mating.

The demons in the den where starting to fidget loudly, literally; they didn't like her story at all.

Chikara was finishing the part of the battle where Naraku impaled Koga on a tree when there was an exploding uproar in the room. She could hear thousands of questions, not only spoken, but written on their face. Confusion and anger was riding amongst the demon crowd. They were angry at her for hiding Koga from them, as he was their leader, their strength.

There was no way for her to speak and explain herself. Each time she would raise her voice, the noise would engulf it.

She didn't know what to do to calm them down. Bringing her hand to a stop motion did nothing. It seemed that the younger generation didn't have respect for the goddess in front of them. She glanced at the elders, patiently waiting, although it was obvious they had questions themselves.

Chikara didn't like using her power to frighten people, but this situation could not be dealt with if she didn't have their attention… and to have silence she was ready to use authority. Gripping her sceptre with her two hands, she started to glow all kinds of hues of red. Her blond hair spiking in every directions and her voice resonating in the caves: "How dare you be insolent toward a goddess!? Do you wish to bring misfortune upon yourselves?"

Stillness was almost immediate.

Chikara sighed and looked once more at the elders; they seemed undisturbed by her outburst. Her gaze returned to the crowd. "Aren't you all happy that Koga had found a mate and was bringing heirs upon this world?" she asked them sarcastically, intending to see their response.

This time, no one really wanted to talk, it was as if they were thinking before acting.

However, she already knew what they would say; she knew what the elders and counsellors were wanting from leaders such as Koga. And it frustrated her to see that this was no different from what Sesshoumaru had been victim of during his earlier lonely years as a Lord of the Western lands. "Sometimes I wish I couldn't see what kind of pressure you put on Koga."

The council made of elders gasped.

"Don't give me those expressions" she huffed. "The Moon and the Sun see all, they are omnipresent in everyone's lives. I am connected to those elements; I can seek any information through them. You are making him suffer with all those stupidities about finding a mate and this damn idea about heirs!" She held her sceptre tightly in her hands, trying to keep herself collected. "By all Gods! We are in a dark time, as much as worse as war! Naraku is _still_ roaming, and it is no thanks to you all!" she roared, her voice ringing through the walls of the caverns. Chikara grabbed her head, not really wanting to be there anymore.

An old demoness, who wasn't part of the council, raised her hand.

The goddess noticed the mark of respect, so she gave her the right to speak.

"My lady, I am sorry to interrupt you. I wanted to mention that what Koga needs at the moment is someone who can understand what he's going through. Not someone who most of the time yells after him because he's not acting like a _true_ leader." She glared at the council and then looked at Chikara for approval.

The goddess smiled. "This is true, indeed. Please carry on."

The she-wolf nodded and continued. "Alas, there is no one in this tribe who actually was in the same situation as Koga. There hasn't been a birth in years and all females… and males that are in this delicate condition are kept inside to ensure a safe pregnancy. You see, there aren't been many miscarriage since… a few centuries ago."

Chikara's smile faltered: "I see. Is there anything you can think of that could help Koga?" she asked the wise she-wolf.

The said demon shook her head, a bit ashamed of not knowing what to do.

"Then I am going to try something." Chikara took a deep breath. She scanned around the large room to see if most were listening. "I will bring back Koga here. I know that the castle will not help his recovery as he will not be with you, his fellow wolves." Her voice echoed and every demon present was hung to her speech; they were pleased with her decision.

There was a roar of cheering that suddenly made her stop. She raised her hand in the air, showing she was not done. "Although he will be back, I will still check on him with my powers. I do not want him to commit suicide."

Part of the crowd gasped. Would he go that far?

Knowing their fear, Chikara assured them. "He may not do the act, but I cannot tell you what is going through his mind, that would be violating his privacy. You do not worry; if someone is with him most of the time, the chances are that he won't do it."

It surprised the goddess that the council did not speak much; she thought they would have rebuked every single thing she'd say. "Well then, without further adieu, I will leave to get back to the castle. Since it is too late today, I will bring Koga tomorrow."

Before moving, she felt a strange aura coming from the demons; they didn't like her much. They seemed to be glad that she was leaving.

Taking off her outer layer of kimono, she frowned. She wasn't pleased with that meeting, but it was not her fault Koga and Inuyasha had found themselves in that situation and that the wolf demons were unhappy. She could only _**clean up the mess**_ they left behind. Just like a mother would do.

**THE END**

* * *

This is it! This story is finished... gah, I was so tired of it. So despressing... but I really like the outcome of this fic :) 

Like in my previous story, I will explain the meaning of the title _Mended Illusions_: the illusions are actually Inuyasha and Koga's dreams. They are shattered by Naraku and the fact that they can't raise a family in this dark time. They were mended with the small hope they had left... to only be squashed by that battle wound Koga received and that caused the miscarriage.

In the beginning, I was going for three stories that would tell of the character's stories. _The Love of a Mother_ was there to start and explain how Koga and Inuyasha got together. Then the tragedy of the mating and the separation in _Mended Illusions_. The last one was supposed to be the steps into a new life, a decade after, which would have been called _Lost Emotions_. Alas, I don't feel like writing any more Inuyasha fics, but since the plan of the story is written there is some chance that I will write it... however I can't guarantee when.

I am currently working on a one-shot Naruto fic (mpreg as well) so if you're interested, stay tuned!

Demain Matin -xxx-


End file.
